Novartis Setbacks, Anthropic Seeks Dealmaker: Pharma & AI Roundup

Published: April 18, 2025

This week delivered a sharp contrast in two of the most closely watched sectors: pharma giant Novartis stumbled on two fronts, while AI startup Anthropic quietly began looking for a dealmaker to navigate its next big move. Here’s what happened and why it matters.

Novartis: A Double Blow

Swiss drugmaker Novartis confirmed Thursday that its experimental CTLA-4 antibody, NVS-3301, failed to meet the primary endpoint of overall survival in a Phase III trial for advanced melanoma. Shares dipped 2.3% in pre-market trading as analysts downgraded the asset’s peak sales potential from $3 billion to near zero. Dr. Maria Rivera, an oncologist at MD Anderson who was not involved in the study, told Stat News that the drug’s mechanism “showed promise in early phases, but the final readout confirms the difficulty of targeting this pathway without significant toxicity.”

Compounding the setback, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a complete response letter for Novartis’s gene therapy OAV-101, approved last year for spinal muscular atrophy, citing a new manufacturing deviation detected during a routine inspection. The company said the issue is isolated to one batch and expects a resolution within 90 days, but the regulatory rebuke raises questions about its gene therapy supply chain. “Two bad headlines in one week – that’s rare for Novartis, which has been a consistent performer in oncology,” noted Kevin Chen, an analyst at Jefferies. The stock closed down 3.1% on Thursday, wiping out roughly $7 billion in market cap.

Anthropic: Quietly Shopping for a Banker

In the AI world, Anthropic – the Claude-maker backed by Google and Spark Capital – is actively seeking a dealmaker to advise on a potential financing round or a strategic sale, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. The company has informally approached Evercore and Morgan Stanley to gauge interest, though no mandate has been signed yet. Anthropic’s move comes as it faces mounting pressure to secure more compute capacity and compete with OpenAI’s GPT‑5, which is expected later this year.

Unlike its rivals, Anthropic has historically focused on safety-first research, but that positioning hasn’t insulated it from the capital-intensive race. “Anthropic needs either a massive new funding round – think $5‑10 billion – or a strategic partner like Apple or Amazon to stay competitive,” said Sarah Liao, a venture partner at NEA. “Hiring a banker signals they’re exploring all options, including an acquisition.” Anthropic declined to comment. The company’s last round, a $1.5 billion Series C in late 2024, valued it at $24 billion.

Other Headlines Worth Watching

• Biogen announced it will cut 200 jobs (approximately 4% of its workforce) as part of a restructuring ahead of its Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab’s European approval decision. The company said the layoffs will focus on administrative roles and are “not R&D-related.”
• Google DeepMind released a new paper on “constitutional AI” that claims to reduce harmful outputs without explicit human feedback loops – a direct challenge to Anthropic’s own constitutional approach. The paper, posted on arXiv, has already sparked debate among AI ethics researchers.
• FDA Advisory Committee voted 11-2 in favor of approving a new gene-editing therapy from Editas Medicine for a rare form of blindness, sending Editas shares up 28% after hours. If approved, it would be the first CRISPR-based therapy for a non-blood disorder.

The Bottom Line

Novartis’s double whammy underscores the high-risk nature of drug development, even for industry leaders. For Anthropic, the quiet search for a dealmaker suggests the AI landscape is consolidating rapidly, and even the safest bets need a financial anchor. Both stories reinforce the same lesson: in science and tech, no lead is permanent.

Reporting contributed by Jane Zhang and Reuters. Statistics from FactSet.