The Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has reached a deal to buy the Medicines Company, a maker of cholesterol drugs, for $9.7 billion.

Novartis will pay $85 a share for the biotech firm, which is based in New Jersey. That represents a sharp premium to the Medicines Company’s closing stock price on Friday, $68.55 a share. At that price, the deal is worth $9.7 billion, including outstanding stock options and convertible debt.

The Medicines Company is in late-stage studies of a drug, inclisiran, meant to lower cholesterol. The company focuses on researching treatments for cardiovascular disease, specifically looking at ways to lower so-called bad cholesterol.

Novartis in recent years has used acquisitions to expand its portfolio of drugs.

“We’re hoping to reimagine treatment of the leading global cause of death. This could be a strong step forward in Novartis’s transformation into a focused medicines company,” Vas Narasimhan, the Novartis chief executive, said on Sunday in a tweet.