Italian pharmaceutical company Angelini Pharma recently announced its acquisition of Catalyst, a US-based rare disease specialist, for $4.1 billion, aiming to capitalize on the lucrative US market. The two companies expect to close the deal in the third quarter.

According to publicly available information, Catalyst was founded in 2002 and went public on NASDAQ in 2006. The company is patient-centric, focusing on the introduction, development, and commercialization of novel medicines for rare and intractable diseases.

In 2025, Catalyst's revenue reached $589 million, a 20% increase, and this year's revenue is projected to be between $615 million and $645 million.

It has three products already on the market:

Firdapse (amifampridine) is the company's flagship product. It is the only evidence-based treatment approved by the FDA for Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) in patients aged 6 and older. Sales of this drug are projected to reach $358 million in 2025, a 17% year-on-year increase. Even more exciting for investors is Catalyst's recent major victory in a patent dispute, meaning it will enjoy a period of exclusivity in the US market for the next few years.

Agamree (vamorolone) is a novel corticosteroid that received FDA approval in 2023 for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in patients aged 2 years and older. Catalyst owns the U.S. rights to the drug, which generated $117 million in sales in the U.S. last year.

Fycompa (perapanel) is an antiepileptic drug approved for the treatment of partial-onset epilepsy and primary generalized tonic-clonic epilepsy. Its U.S. rights were acquired by Eisai in 2023. Fycompa's sales are projected to reach $113 million by 2025; however, the drug will begin facing generic competition in the fourth quarter of this year.

Angelini Pharma is a family-owned, privately held company founded in 1919. Its core business focuses on brain health, while also operating specialty and basic medical services and consumer health businesses. The company's research and development division has successfully discovered and developed important drug molecules, including trazodone and benzyldamine hydrochloride.

In recent years, Angelini Pharma has been undergoing a profound strategic transformation. In January 2026, Sergio Marullo di Condojanni will become the company's CEO, leading the company into a new phase of global development.

Through a series of investments and acquisitions, the company has continuously strengthened its R&D pipeline in the fields of brain health and rare diseases. In February of this year, Angelini invested $120 million to acquire exclusive rights to Quiver's AI-powered drug discovery platform, and the two companies will jointly develop novel treatments for rare childhood epilepsy-related brain disorders. In the second half of last year, Angelini also signed a $550 million agreement to acquire SVG105, a preclinical neuroscience asset, from the South Korean biotechnology company Sovargen.

This $4.1 billion acquisition of Catalyst, a rare disease company in the United States, is Angelini's largest acquisition to date , marking the company's first major entry into the US market. The aim is to integrate the strengths of both parties to create a world-leading next-generation rare disease treatment platform.

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