Servier, run by a nonprofit group, continues to make money with its IDH-mutant glioma treatment Volanigo, and the drug company is moving deeper into rare oncology with a new M&A strategy.
Servier on Friday announced a definitive agreement to acquire DayOne Biopharmaceuticals, a commercial-stage company developing targeted therapies for childhood cancer and other diseases, for $21.50 per share in cash. In a March 6 release, the companies announced that the total transaction value, which is expected to close in the second quarter, is approximately $2.5 billion.
The highlight of the deal is undoubtedly Day One’s Ojemda (toborafenib). It is a type 2 RAF inhibitor approved by the FDA in April 2024 to treat patients 6 months and older with relapsed or refractory pediatric low-grade glioma (pLGG), a more advanced stage of a common childhood brain tumor.
The drug is likely to fit well with Servier’s Voranigo, which was also approved in 2024 under a different glioma niche for patients 12 years and older with susceptible IDH1 or IDH2 mutations. Servier also acquired that drug through a deal, appointing Volanigo to acquire Agios Pharmaceuticals in 2021 for $2 billion.
On the research and development front, Servier can also leverage Day One’s early-to-late stage pipeline, which includes additional programs for tovorafenib in pediatric low-grade gliomas, as well as assets through development in indications such as adenoid cystic carcinoma and adult and pediatric solid tumors.
Servier said it plans to fund the transaction with a combination of existing cash and investments. According to press releases from both companies, the company’s stock price proposal reflects a premium of approximately 68% over the first day’s closing price on March 5th.
“In less than 10 years, we have built a durable oncology platform in the United States,” David Lee, CEO of Servier’s U.S. division, told Fierce in an emailed statement Friday. “It’s not born out of short-term thinking. It’s born out of continued investment in science, infrastructure and people.”
He reiterated Servier’s ambition to “lead the field in rare cancers” and noted that for these patients, “progress often depends on a small number of people and organizations choosing to take an active role when others do not.”
Lee continued, “We believe that when the science is promising and the need is urgent, it is our responsibility to build the capacity that can translate discoveries into real outcomes for patients.”
Servier has long emphasized patient-centricity as one of the company’s key strengths and distinguishing characteristics, due to its unique governance model through the non-profit international foundation Servier Foundation.
In an interview with Fierce Pharma at the 2025 JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, Lee said similarly about the company’s governance model that allows Servier to do “things that other companies can’t do” and “invest in diseases that other companies can’t make a business case for.”
At the time, Lee said the brain tumor treatment landscape remained “pretty open,” adding that in terms of potential external opportunities for Servier, “anything that’s driven by mutations is still good for us…but we’re open to whether it’s (glioblastoma), glioma, or astrocytoma.”
Looking at Ojemda’s target population, the FDA specifically cleared the use of RAF inhibitors for relapsed or refractory pLGG patients with BRAF fusions or rearrangements, or BRAF V600 mutations.
PLGG is the most common type of pediatric brain tumor, with BRAF abnormalities accounting for approximately 1,100 of the 1,500 new cases diagnosed each year.
Outside the United States, Ojemda also received a positive recommendation late last month for approval for the same indication in Europe, where Ipsen holds licensing rights for day-one drugs.
As a pharmaceutical company aiming to achieve annual sales of 10 billion euros ($11.5 billion) by 2030, Servier is advancing initiatives in the latest cancer field. The group’s president, Olivier Loreau, said in January that Servier was an “important step” after a successful 2024-2025 financial year that ended in September with a 16.2% increase to 6.9 billion euros ($8.2 billion). Get closer to achieving that goal.
Servier didn’t mince words about Volanigo’s contribution to last year’s revenue, noting that its overall oncology business grew 55% in fiscal year 2024-25, increasing the division’s contribution to Servier’s overall revenue to 32% from 24% in the prior quarter.
Mr. Servier has been busy on the oncology deal front, having last year licensed a Phase 1 asset targeting RAF/RAS-mutated solid tumors from Black Diamond Therapeutics, acquired a Phase 1/2 leukemia candidate from Bionova Pharmaceuticals, and acquired the U.S. rights to Ideaya Biosciences’ potential first-in-class PKC inhibitor dalobasertib, which is being developed in uveal melanoma. Needless to say, we also signed an oncology drug discovery agreement with AI. Biotechnology Insilico Medicine created in January.
Recently, the company has also been working to strengthen its services in the field of neurology.
