As pharmaceutical companies race to find the next generation of medicines, Novo Holdings announced it will acquire Catalent, Inc. The all-cash deal values Catalent at $16.5 billion, on an enterprise value basis, and is expected to close toward the end of 2024. Novo is a Denmark-based investment company that manages the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation with the goal of improving global health and sustainability.
“Catalent, Inc. is a global leader in enabling pharma, biotech, and consumer health partners to optimize product development, launch, and full life-cycle supply for patients around the world,” according to the companies’ joint press release. “With broad and deep scale and expertise in development sciences, delivery technologies, and multi-modality manufacturing, Catalent is a preferred industry partner for personalized medicines, consumer health brand extensions, and blockbuster drugs.”
Personalized Medicine Market Size
According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, personalized medicine is an emerging area of medicine that uses an individual patient’s unique genetic profile to diagnose, treat, or even prevent diseases. Traditionally, medicine has pursued a “one size fits all approach” but advances in sequencing individuals’ DNA enable doctors to customize treatments to each patient. Further, better understanding patients’ genetic makeup permits doctors to shift their focus toward prevention of disease in the first place. These advances represent what is perhaps “the biggest revolution in medicine in a very long time.”
North America dominates the personalized medicine market, accounting for a revenue share of over 45% in 2023; however, the Asia-Pacific market is projected to grow rapidly because the region’s low cost clinical trials have drawn foreign direct investment that is expected to bear fruit. Across the globe, companies have sought to be a central part of these medical breakthroughs.
According to DealPulse’s M&A database, which harnesses both AI and attorneys to digest the granular deal points of publicly announced transactions, Catalent is advised by law firms Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Jones Day, along with financial advisor J.P. Morgan. Novo Holdings is advised by Vinson & Elkins LLP, and financial advisor Morgan Stanley.
