Just days after agreeing to sell its stake in its consumer healthcare joint venture to GlaxoSmithKline for US$13 B, Novartis has agreed to spend US$8.7 B to acquire AveXis, a biotech company specialising in gene therapies for the treatment of rare neurological diseases. AveXis’ lead candidate is AVXS-101, a potential one-time gene therapy to treat life-threatening spinal muscular atrophy in Phase III development. The deal will significantly increase Novartis’ footprint in gene therapy and follows the company’s January 2018 licensing deal with Spark Therapeutics for ex-US rights to Luxturna™ (voretigene neparvovec).