U.S. Bio Firm Sells Oral Treatment for Rare Diseases to Italian Pharma for $1.9 Billion

KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: KALV) is being acquired by Italian pharmaceutical company Chiesi Group. Chiesi will launch a tender offer to purchase all of KalVista’s outstanding common stock for $27 per share in cash, implying a total equity valuation of approximately $1.9 billion. The transaction, unanimously approved by both companies’ boards of directors and free of financing conditions, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026 following the tender offer and a two-step merger. Upon closing, KalVista will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Chiesi, which will also assume the rights to commercialize and develop EKTERLY, the first oral on-demand therapy for acute hereditary angioedema attacks.

KalVista recently presented interim data from its KONFIDENT-KID Phase 3 trial in pediatric patients aged 2 to 11 at an international scientific conference. The company plans to submit an additional New Drug Application for this age group in the third quarter of 2026, targeting a U.S. launch in 2027.

In its first year of commercialization, EKTERLY generated approximately $49.1 million in 2025. KalVista expects that its existing cash reserves, together with forthcoming revenues, will fund operations through the point of profitability.

A biopharmaceutical company focused on oral plasma kallikrein inhibitor therapies, KalVista’s development platform centers on sebetralstat. EKTERLY received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in 2025 and is currently under centralized marketing-authorization review in Europe. In the hereditary angioedema and broader rare disease market, the shift from injectable to oral therapies has driven global pharmaceutical firms to acquire biotech companies to bolster their pipelines. This transaction is viewed as part of Chiesi’s strategy to expand its rare disease portfolio.