Ionis and Akcea partner with Novartis

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Akcea Therapeutics, an Ionis subsidiary, have partnered with Novartis to develop and commercialize the drugs AKCEA-APO(a)-LRx and AKCEA-APOCIII-LRx.
"AKCEA-APO(a)-LRx and AKCEA-APOCIII-LRx are novel potential therapies to address the broad opportunities that still exist to treat cardiovascular disease, despite currently available therapies,” Akcea CEO Paula Soteropoulos said in a statement.
Soteropoulos noted that Novartis is the perfect partner for Akcea to bring their products to their full potential. The partnership also allows Akcea to move more rapidly with its strategy.
“We are advancing our pipeline of novel drugs to treat previously inadequately treated lipid disorders by pursuing indications that drive the greatest near- and long-term value,” Soteropoulos said.  “This strategic partnership allows us to move more rapidly to Phase 3 cardiovascular outcomes studies with both therapies than our original development plan.”
Soteropoulos said Novartis has global commercialization resources that will help Akcea. By using Novartis resources and pairing them with Akcea’s sales force, Akcea can maximize the commercial potential of each drug.