Angelini Pharma pays $4.1 billion for Catalyst, entering U.S. rare-disease market
Italian family-owned Angelini Pharma completed a $4.1 billion cash acquisition of U.S. biotech Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, securing a foothold in the American rare-disease sector.
After more than a century of focusing on Europe, the Angelini family’s pharmaceutical division entered the United States by buying Catalyst Pharmaceuticals for $4.1 billion in cash, a transaction financed with assistance from Blackstone and Italy’s CDP Equity. The acquisition, finalized in July, brings three commercial products into Angelini’s portfolio, notably a treatment for the rare neuromuscular disorder Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, and lifts annual sales by about $600 million.
This move aligns with the ambitions of fourth-generation controlling shareholder Thea Paola Angelini and CEO Sergio Marullo di Condojanni, who have been redirecting the business toward brain-disorder therapies, as shown by earlier purchases of Arvelle Therapeutics and Grin Therapeutics. Simultaneously, the group created a $350 million venture fund targeting innovative life-science companies such as Switzerland’s Nouscom.
Analysts point out that expanding into the U.S. rare-disease market is atypical for an Italian family firm but could serve as a platform for future growth. The acquisition follows resolved internal family legal disputes, leaving Angelini Industries with roughly $2.5 billion in total revenue.
Why it matters
The deal gives a traditionally European family firm a major entry point into the lucrative U.S. rare-disease pharmaceutical market.
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