Merck In A Strategic Bid To Buy Acceleron For About $11.5 billion In Rare Disease Drugs Push

Merck & Co will buy drugmaker Acceleron Pharma Inc for about $11.5 billion, the companies said on Thursday, as the U.S. pharmaceutical giant looks to beef up its portfolio with drugs for rare diseases. Merck will pay $180 per Acceleron share in cash, representing a premium of about 2.6% to the stock's closing price on Wednesday, according to Refinitiv data.

The deal gives Merck, which makes the blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda, access to a potentially lucrative rare disease drug candidate, sotatercept. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Acceleron focuses on therapeutics that treat cardiovascular and other blood-related disorders. Its sotatercept drug, which is currently in a late-stage study, is aimed at treating a rare cardiovascular disease called pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a type of high blood pressure that affects the lungs.

The market for treatments targeting rare diseases has become lucrative, as drugmakers typically charge higher prices for drugs that serve small patient populations. An estimated 25-30 million Americans are living with a rare disease, according to the U.S. National Institute Of Health, prompting a number of drugmakers to eye that slice of the market.

Along with sotatercept, Merck will gain access to Reblozyl, which is approved for the treatment of two blood-related disorders, including anemia in patients with beta-thalassemia. "Although the acquisition of Acceleron will not fully remove the overhang of generic competition for MRK's single largest drug Keytruda (we estimate 37% of 2021 sales), it does help diversify sales, which addresses a large shareholder concern," Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Louise Chen said in a client note. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.











SOURCE: REUTERS