Novartis agreed to acquire Avidity Biosciences for roughly $12 billion, adding three late‑stage antibody‑oligonucleotide conjugate (AOC) programs targeted at neuromuscular diseases. The deal transfers registrational‑stage assets for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy type 1 and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy to Novartis and grants access to Avidity’s muscle delivery platform. Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan and Avidity CEO Sarah Boyce framed the purchase as a strategic push to expand RNA delivery beyond the liver into muscle tissue. Avidity’s pipeline includes del‑zota (DMD exon‑44), del‑desiran (DM1) and del‑brax (FSHD), all nearing regulatory submissions or in registrational trials. The company said some programs are on track to submit Biologics License Applications within the next 12 months. AOC technology couples oligonucleotides to antibodies that target transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1) to ferry RNA into muscle cells—a delivery approach considered a key barrier for RNA therapeutics in neuromuscular disease. Novartis said it expects the acquisition to accelerate its “xRNA” strategy and expand its neuroscience and rare‑disease footprint.