FORTITUDE de-risks Avidity acquisition to some extent

Research evidence excerpt

FORTITUDE de-risks Avidity acquisition to some extent

Switzerland | Pharmaceuticals

Novartis AG EquityJuneResearch11, 2026

FLASH NOTEFORTITUDE de-risks Avidity acquisition to

RATING HOLDsome extent

PRICE CHF119.04^

Novartis reports pI/II biomarker data for delpacibart braxlosiran (del-brax)

in the pI/II FORTITUDE study in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy PRICE TARGET | % TO PT CHF110.00 | -8%

(FSHD) meets its primary biomarker endpoint. The pIII HARBOR in DM-1 52W HIGH-LOW CHF131.00 - CHF91.20

for del-desiran remains the main proof point for the $12bn acquisition, but FLOAT (%) | ADV MM (USD) 94.7% | 400.30

FORTITUDE does de-risk the technology platform. MARKET CAP CHF224.7B | $281.6B

TICKER NOVN SW

^Prior trading day's closing price unless otherwise

FORTITUDE de-risks the platform to an extent: FSHD (facioscapulohumeral muscular noted.

dystrophy) is a genetic muscle disease that causes progressive muscle weakness and

degeneration. It is a hereditary muscular dystrophy that leads to gradual weakening and loss RATING HOLD

of skeletal muscle. The root cause is abnormal activation of the DUX4 gene in muscle cells. TICKER NVS

This is why all current pipelines (del-brax, Arrowhead, etc.) focus on silencing DUX4. PRICE $148.12^

Avidity uses antibody–oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs) where a monoclonal antibody and PRICE TARGET | % TO PT $143.00 | -3%

siRNA (or ASO) are linked together. The idea being that this leads to 10–50× higher muscle

exposure vs unconjugated siRNA. Alternative technologies use chemically engineered siRNA

or LNP delivery.

The FORTITUDE Phase 1/2 study was not powered for efficacy. Its primary purpose was early-

stage evaluation (safety, biomarker engagement, exploratory function) and the study’s primary