Merck walks away from Revolution talks as price gap bites
US pharma major Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) has ended discussions to acquire Revolution Medicines (Nasdaq: RVMD) after the two sides failed to align on price, cooling a process that had briefly dangled a valuation of around $30 billion for the RAS-focused biotech.
Revolution, valued at about $16 billion before the takeover rumors began, has since seen its market value rise to more than $22 billion. The move underscores how quickly deal speculation can re-rate an asset, even before the next data drop.
Merck chief executive Robert Davis has signaled that the company typically targets smaller transactions, but the door is not fully shut. With Revolution preparing to release closely watched clinical readouts on its cancer candidates in the first half of this year, fresh results could rekindle the company’s interest or pull in other would-be buyers.
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