LONDON — GSK announced an agreement to acquire the US biotechnology company Nuvalent for $10.6 billion. The company stated the acquisition is the largest in its corporate history.

The company will pay $124 per share in cash for Nuvalent. This offer represents a 26 percent premium to Nuvalent's average share price over the preceding 30 days. After accounting for cash acquired in the transaction, its net expenditure on the deal is approximately $9.4 billion.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing Nuvalent's late-stage drugs, zidesamtinib and neladalkib. Regulatory decisions on both drugs are expected in September and November. Its lead drug candidates specifically target genetic mutations associated with lung cancer in non-smoking adults between 40 and 50 years old. These mutations typically affect around 4,000 adults in the U.S.

The company anticipates that the acquisition will generate immediate sales growth and improve profit contributions starting in 2027. Luke Miels, the company's chief executive, said, "The two lead products are potential best-in-class assets that could launch this year if approved by the FDA and offer significant new treatment options to patients with two forms of non-small cell lung cancer." Miels added, "I really became convinced that this was a deal that we needed to do."

The previous largest acquisition for the company was a 2014 asset swap with Novartis, valued at approximately $21 billion. That transaction involved the company acquiring Novartis's vaccines division for $5.25 billion and selling its cancer portfolio to Novartis for $16 billion. Earlier this year, in January, it acquired the food allergy treatment developer RAPT for $2.2 billion.

The biotechnology company was founded in 2017 by Matthew Shair, a Harvard University professor of chemistry and chemical biology. Shair holds a 2.16 percent stake in it, while Deerfield Management is the largest shareholder. Its shares rose 38 percent to $122 in pre-market trading following the acquisition announcement, while GSK shares declined 3 percent.

Miels succeeded Emma Walmsley as the company's chief executive at the beginning of the current year, having previously served as the company's chief commercial officer. The company has a corporate revenue target to exceed £40 billion in annual sales by 2031. It is also developing a late-stage candidate drug called Ris-Rez, intended to treat multiple forms of cancer.

No independent assessment was available for this report.