Major British pharma firm agrees 'biggest takeover in more than a decade' in £8bn US cancer drug deal

The British pharma giant will pay $10.6billion (£8billion) for the Massachusetts-based company, which specialises in developing treatments for lung cancer.

As part of the deal, GSK will gain three lung cancer medicines, including two treatments that are currently being reviewed by US regulators and could be approved later this year.

Nuvalent's leading drug candidates, zidesamtinib and neladalkib, are both designed to treat different forms of lung cancer and are in the final stages of development.

GSK chief executive Luke Miels said: "Nuvalent's two lead products are potential best-in-class assets that could launch this year if approved by the FDA and offer significant new treatment options to patients with two forms of non-small cell lung cancer."

He said the acquisition would help drive sales growth and boost profits from 2027 onwards.

"The acquisition provides GSK with immediate new sales growth opportunities, improving profit contributions from 2027, and a platform in lung cancer for rapid expansion," he added.

GSK said the deal will cost around $9.4billion (£7.1billion) after taking account of the cash already held by Nuvalent.

The acquisition will contribute to revenue growth from 2027 and support GSK's ambition of achieving more than £40 billion in sales by 2031.

The deal also helps offset potential earnings pressure following the loss of patent protection for the HIV medication dolutegravir between 2028 and 2030.

James Porter, Nuvalent's chief executive, said: "Since our founding, we have leveraged our deep expertise in chemistry and structure-based drug design to develop a portfolio of novel, potentially best-in-class kinase inhibitors."

He added: "We're excited that GSK has recognised the significant value these programmes can offer patients and shares our vision for practice-changing innovation."