Siemens Healthineers to Acquire Novartis’ AAA Diagnostic Unit for €200M, Expanding PET Imaging Capabilities

According to Financial Times (FT), Siemens Healthineers intends to pay more than €200 million ($224 million) for Novartis' Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) diagnostic division.

Siemens Healthineers had extended a legally-binding offer to Novartis in this respect.Siemens Healthineers' position in the medical imaging industry is anticipated to be strengthened by this purchase, especially in the generation of radioactive substances required for PET scans, which are used to identify cancer.Negotiations with Novartis's works council and regulatory permission notwithstanding, the purchase is expected to close in the year's last quarter.Siemens Healthineers will be able to enter the European market thanks to the acquisition.The second-largest cyclotron network in Europe is owned by AAA, which Novartis purchased in 2017 for $3.9 billion. This network is essential for producing the radioactive chemicals that PET scans utilise to diagnose a variety of disorders.

After splitting from Siemens in 2017, Siemens Healthineers sees this deal as a big step towards ensuring a consistent supply of vital ingredients for its imaging equipment business.The original goal of Novartis's acquisition of AAA was to have access to medications made by radiopharma.This year, sales of AAA's main product, Lutathera, which was authorised in 2018 to treat neuroendocrine tumours, are expected to reach $704 million.Nevertheless, Novartis made the decision to sell AAA's diagnostics section in order to concentrate on the expansion of molecular imaging under a separate diagnostics organisation.Additionally, Novartis and Siemens Healthineers will work together to improve the availability of radioactive isotopes used in radiopharmaceuticals like Lutathera as part of the deal.

According to Reuters, Siemens Healthineers will continue to be a partner in Novartis' radioligand treatment (RLT) business.The Siemens Healthineers company Varian has introduced the HyperSight imaging solution for its TrueBeam and Edge systems in the Asia Pacific area (except from China) in a separate announcement.The goal of HyperSight is to streamline processes for all of Varian's linear accelerators. This enables more individualised care for every patient.