Swiss drugmaker Novartis has agreed to acquire Chinook Therapeutics, a US clinical-stage biopharma, for $3.5 billion.

Chinook has two late-stage drugs in development to treat Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy (IgAN), a rare and progressive kidney disease that mostly affects young adults and currently lacks targeted treatment options.

The therapies are Atrasentan, an oral endothelin A receptor antagonist (ERA) and Zigakibart, a monoclonal antibody. Atrasentan is currently in Phase 3 development for IgAN and has shown significant reductions in proteinuria. Atrasentan is also in early-stage development for other rare kidney diseases. A phase 3 trial for Zigakibart in IgAN is expected to start in Q3 2023.

Novartis said Chinook has deep expertise in modeling and understanding kidney disease and a promising early pipeline to address a number of severe renal conditions.

Both companies’ boards have unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2023.

Earlier this month, Novartis paid $87.5 million for Avrobio’s investigational hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy program for cystinosis, a rare genetic disease where amino acid cystine builds up in the body’s tissues and organs.