Novartis has decided to divest a clinical-stage asset for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in light of a corporate reorganisation that will see it spin-off its Sandoz generics unit and refocus its proprietary medicines business on a limited number of therapeutic areas. This will result in the ending of a collaboration with Pliant Therapeutics Inc of South San Francisco, US. Pliant disclosed the decision in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 17 February.
