Merck to buy Terns Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 billion to boost cancer pipeline
pharmaceutical giant Merck Acquires US biotechnology company Terns Pharmaceuticals It cost $6.7 billion, the company said Wednesday.
This is Merck’s third multibillion-dollar acquisition in the past year; because the company plans to expand its portfolio before its best-selling cancer drug, Keytruda, loses patent protection in 2028.
Merck will acquire Terns for $53 per share in cash and an equity value of approximately $6.7 billion. That represents a 6% premium over Tuesday’s closing price, according to CNBC’s calculations. The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter.
Terns is developing a drug for a form of leukemia that analysts see as a multibillion-dollar drug that could eventually become a rival Novartis‘ Scemblix.
Shares of Terns have soared in recent months as investor excitement grows about the experimental drug, which showed promising results in an early trial late last year.
Shares of Merck were largely flat in premarket trading Wednesday, while Terns shares rose 5.3%. Shares of Terns rose as much as 15% in earlier trading following media reports that the companies were nearing a deal.
Tern stocks increased rapidly last year.
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