With an eye on the lucrative U.S. market, Italy’s Angelini Pharma will acquire rare disease specialist Catalyst Pharmaceuticals and its potential blockbuster, Firdapse, for $4.1 billion.
Rome-based Angelini, a family-owned private company established in 1919, is paying $31.50 per share for Florida-based Catalyst. It is a 3% premium on Catalyst’s share price at close yesterday and a 21% premium on its price on April 22 before market activity hinted at public knowledge that a sale was in the offing. Bloomberg reported the potential buyout on April 27, triggering another stock surge.
The companies expect to close the deal in the third quarter.
“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,” Angelini CEO Segio Marullo di Condojanni said in a release. “Entering the U.S. market will allow us to acquire the scale and capabilities needed to continue this journey.”
With its largest-ever acquisition, Angelini gains 24-year-old Catalyst, which was listed on the Nasdaq in 2006. Catalyst began generating revenue in 2019 and reported sales of $589 million in 2025, which were up 20%. In February, the company guided revenue between $615 million and $645 million this year.
Firdapse, which was approved in 2018 to treat the neuromuscular disorder Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS), generated sales of $358 million last year, good for an 18% increase year-over-year.
Catalyst owns the U.S. rights to Santhera-partnered Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment Agamree, too, which was approved in 2023 and racked up sales of $117 million last year in the U.S. The company also reported sales of $113 million last year for seizure medicine Fycompa, which began facing generic competition in the fourth quarter.
“By combining our unique capabilities in rare diseases with Angelini’s proven global reach, we will create a stronger, scalable, and robust rare disease platform to expand access to life-changing therapies worldwide,” Catalyst CEO Rich Daly said in a release. “For shareholders, this transaction delivers immediate and certain cash value through a compelling premium.”
Italian public development bank CDP Equity is helping to fund the deal by taking a minority stake in Angelini, according to Reuters. The lender supports Italy’s economy by financing infrastructure, promoting innovation, and supporting businesses, while managing a €32 billion ($38 billion) equity base.
Angelini’s deal comes on the heels of a similar transaction last week by another Italian family-owned private drugmaker, Chiesi, which bought out Massachusetts rare disease specialist KalVista for $1.9 billion. With the acquisition, Chiesi gained newly-approved Ekterly, a potential blockbuster treatment for hereditary angioedema (HAE).
Angelini Pharma and parent Angelini Industries have been on an investment tear, most recently partnering with the EU’s investment arm, the European Investment Bank, to infuse 150 million euros (about $174.3 million) into biotech, medtech and digital health companies over the next six years in Europe.
In February, Angelini ponied up $120 million to collaborate with Massachusetts biotech Quiver Bioscience to advance novel therapies for genetic epilepsies. Late last year, Angelini also penned a $550 million deal to acquire a preclinical neuro asset from South Korean biotech Sovargen.
