Novartis (NYSE: NVS) has exercised its exclusive option to acquire Sironax's proprietary Brain Delivery Module (BDM) platform, completing a transaction first structured in July 2025 when the two companies signed an option and asset purchase agreement. Under the terms of the option exercise, Waltham, Massachusetts-based Sironax will receive USD 125 million at closing. Novartis gains full global rights to the BDM platform, which the company describes as a modality-agnostic blood-brain barrier (BBB) crossing technology engineered to enable in vivo delivery of diverse therapeutic modalities — including monoclonal antibodies, peptides, proteins, and gene therapies — to the brain.
The USD 125 million closing payment sits within the up to USD 175 million in upfront and near-term payments Sironax was eligible to receive under the original July 2025 agreement. No milestone or royalty structure has been disclosed.
Sironax retains rights to develop and commercialize selected therapeutic assets using the BDM platform. The firm is advancing its own clinical pipeline — including SIR2501, an allosteric SARM1 inhibitor in Phase Ib/II for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), which received FDA Fast Track designation in CIPN in May 2026, with data presented at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting. Also in active clinical development is SIR4156, an allosteric NAMPT activator for metabolic dysfunction, and SIR9900, a brain-penetrant allosteric RIPK1 inhibitor for inflammatory and immunological diseases.