Angelini inks $4.1B Catalyst takeover to fuel US expansion

Florida-based Catalyst markets rare neuromuscular and neurological disease treatments that generated sales of $589 million last year, an increase of almost 20% over 2024. Catalyst has forecast that sales will rise again this year to reach between $615 million and $645 million. Firdapse, a treatment for the rare autoimmune disorder Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, is Catalyst’s best-selling product.

Angelini has previously focused on its home continent, securing the European rights to the epilepsy drug Ontozry and leaving its partner SK Life Science to commercialize the product in the US. Buying Catalyst will position Angelini to launch medicines in the US.

The drugmaker said it will integrate Catalyst’s “exceptional commercial infrastructure” into its operations as part of its push to develop the North American market. Catalyst had 182 employees as of Feb. 23, 128 of whom worked in its commercial organization. Angelini CEO Sergio Marullo di Condojanni outlined how Catalyst’s capabilities fit into his strategy.

“Five years ago, we embarked on a profound transformation of Angelini Pharma—organizational, scientific and strategic—with the ambition to build a company capable of competing at the highest global level,” di Condojanni said in a statement. “Entering the US market will allow us to acquire the scale and capabilities needed to continue this journey.”

Angelini named di Condojanni as CEO in January. At the time of the appointment, Angelini outlined a new strategic vision to support the international expansion of the organization into high-growth regions.

Going global

In recent years, Angelini has typically licensed global rights to R&D programs rather than limiting deals to Europe. The geographic scope of the agreements means that, if clinical trials are successful, Angelini has a pipeline of potential products that it could launch in the US using Catalyst’s capabilities. 

Angelini secured an exclusive global option agreement for Cureverse’s brain health asset CV-01 in 2024. The company picked up a global option on another brain health program, Sovargen’s SVG105, in 2025. Angelini also received global rights when it partnered with Quiver Bioscience to develop treatments for genetic epilepsies in February.

The programs could ultimately join Catalyst’s drugs in an expanded portfolio of US products. On Thursday, Catalyst disclosed the resolution of an intellectual property dispute that will defer the entry of a generic copy of Firdapse until 2035. Catalyst has the means to delay the entry of generic rivals to Agamree, its Duchenne muscular dystrophy product, until at least 2031.