{"text":[[{"start":11.75,"text":"UK pharmaceutical group GSK is in talks to buy cancer drugmaker Nuvalent for more than $9bn, in what would be the FTSE 100 company’s biggest acquisition in more than a decade. "}],[{"start":24.55,"text":"The companies were locked in discussions late on Monday with the aim of agreeing a deal as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter. However, a deal was yet to be formally agreed and talks could still collapse because of last-minute hurdles, the people warned. "}],[{"start":40.25,"text":"A potential deal could value Nuvalent at between $9bn and $10bn, the people said, a significant premium to its nearly $7bn market capitalisation at Monday’s close. GSK and Nuvalent did not immediately respond to requests for comment."}],[{"start":55.95,"text":"The takeover talks come amid an upswing in biotech dealmaking. Nearly $211bn worth of deals were struck in the sector globally between the start of the year and early June, according to data tracker Dealogic, putting 2026 on track to be a banner year. "}],[{"start":74.1,"text":"The move would be a bold bet by GSK chief executive Luke Miels, who took over the job from longtime boss Emma Walmsley at the start of the year, with ambitions to boost its drug pipeline and sales. "}],[{"start":86.44999999999999,"text":"An acquisition of Nuvalent would rank as one of GSK’s biggest — second only to its asset swap with Novartis in 2014, in which it took over the Swiss drugmaker’s vaccines divisions in a deal valued at $20bn. "}],[{"start":100.14999999999999,"text":"It would be a departure from GSK’s focus in recent years on small, bolt-on acquisitions rather than bigger transactions. Miels told investors earlier this year that he would pursue deals in the £2bn-£4bn range, which were “hiding in plain sight”. "}],[{"start":114.99999999999999,"text":"Miels, who previously served as GSK’s chief commercial officer, was already behind the pharma group’s up to $2.1bn deal to buy food allergy drugmaker Rapt Therapeutics this February. "}],[{"start":128.04999999999998,"text":"After languishing for years under Walmsley, GSK shares are up 26 per cent over the past year, giving it a market value of roughly £77.4bn at Monday’s close. "}],[{"start":141.04999999999998,"text":"After offloading its oncology portfolio as part of the Novartis deal, GSK has re-entered the field through acquisitions in a bid to compete with larger cancer drugmakers such as Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb. The London-listed group views oncology as a potential growth engine as it eyes an ambitious revenue target of more than £40bn in sales by 2031."}],[{"start":163.1,"text":"Its recent oncology acquisitions have included its $1.9bn takeover of Sierra Oncology in 2022 and a deal to buy IDRx last year worth up to $1.1bn. GSK also struck a licensing deal with China’s Hengrui Pharma to develop 12 medicines across multiple specialisms including cancer. "}],[{"start":185.45,"text":"Nuvalent, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is among the most coveted oncology biotechs. It is studying two targeted therapies — zidesamtinib and neladalkib — used to treat certain forms of non-small-cell lung cancer driven by various mutations in phase 3 trials. "}],[{"start":203.2,"text":"The US Food and Drug Administration is set to make a decision about approving the drugs to treat patients who have already tried other treatments later this year. Analysts at Jefferies estimated Nuvalent’s wider pipeline, which includes medicines targeting several mutations that cause lung cancer, could yield $5bn to $7bn in peak sales."}],[{"start":225.75,"text":"However, at a recent cancer conference, Nuvalent faced a setback over the use of neladalkib as a frontline therapy, with early-stage clinical data causing its shares to fall. Shares in Nuvalent are up 16 per cent over the past year. "}],[{"start":247.75,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780983505_5758.mp3"}