Merck punting $10.8B on strengthening immunology pipeline

17 April 2023

US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) on Sunday revealed it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire clinical-stage biotech Prometheus Biosciences (Nasdaq: RXDX).

Merck, which is looking to add new products to its pipeline as its mega-billion dollar cancer therapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) is expected to lose patent protectionin2028, is offering to pay $200.00 per share in cash, a 75% premium to Prometheus' Friday closing price of $114.01, or an equity value of around $10.8 billion. Prometheus had a market cap of $5.4 billion as of Friday’s market close, up about 4% year-to-date.

Prometheus’ shares rocketed 70% to $194.01 in pre-market trading today.

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