GSK Announces Cash Bid for Nuvalent with $124 per Share

GSK announced a $10.6 billion all-cash acquisition of Nuvalent (NUVL) on June 9, 2026 at $124 per share, representing a 40% premium to the prior close and a 26% premium to the 30-day VWAP. Nuvalent shares surged 39% on the news. The deal is GSK's largest acquisition in over a decade, signaling a major strategic push into precision oncology following the company's spinoff of its consumer health division. Regulatory approval and tender completion are required before close.

The acquisition is driven by Nuvalent's pipeline of next-generation cancer kinase inhibitors. Two drugs carry FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation with PDUFA dates later this year: zidesamtinib (NVL-520, a ROS1 inhibitor), due for FDA decision on September 18, 2026, and neladalkib (NVL-655, an ALK inhibitor), due November 27, 2026. A third asset, NVL-330 (a HER2 inhibitor), is in Phase I. These are designed as best-in-class treatments for non-small cell lung cancer, addressing resistance mutations that limit existing therapies like Pfizer's Lorlatinib and Roche's Alectinib.

For Nuvalent, the $350.48 million termination fee baked into the merger agreement creates a strong incentive for the board to deliver the deal — should another bidder emerge, the fee payable to GSK would be substantial. For investors, the immediate question is whether zidesamtinib's September PDUFA date arrives before deal close, which could shift the risk/reward for arbitrage players holding NUVL through the gap. GSK views the acquisition as building a new oncology franchise around precision medicine to offset patent exposure on older drugs in the mid-decade cliff.