Novartis to Buy Cadent Therapeutics for Up to $770 Million

Novartis AG agreed to buy Cadent Therapeutics, a U.S. developer of treatments for cognitive and mood disorders, for as much as $770 million, amid a recent wave of acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry.

Novartis will pay $210 million up front and privately owned Cadent will be eligible for payments of as much as $560 million upon meeting certain milestones, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company said Thursday.

Cadent is developing a drug for schizophrenia, and it has an alliance already with Novartis on a product for treatment-resistant depression.

Earlier this week, AstraZeneca Plc agreed to buy Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $39 ...