To aid the growth of its expanding cardiovascular treatments pipeline, Merck is striking an acquisition deal worth $11.5B with the Acceleron Pharma. It is a Massachusetts based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that focuses on developing protein-based therapeutics to grow and repair cells and tissues in order to treat cancers and other rare diseases. The U.S. based multinational biopharmaceutical company, is looking to acquire more companies for further opportunities.
The giant pharma group has bought Acceleron’s shares for $180 per share in terms of cash and the closing of the deal is anticipated in the fourth quarter.
The acquisition deal is the most recent one among the emerging pharma companies being acquired by large pharma groups to boost their revenues.
Acceleron is marketing its Reblozyl therapy in U.S., Canada and Europe for treating anaemia in certain blood disorders. The drug is being marketed in collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb which has 11.5% shares in the emerging company.
According to the CEO, Rob Davis, the deal would give Merck the rights of Sotatercept, which is the potential blockbuster drug candidate for treating a rare high blood pressure disorder and is currently in phase III trials. The company is expecting its launch in 2024-25.
He is hopeful that the company would be successfully commercializing the drug as its foundational therapy, generating multi-billion dollar revenues.
The giant pharma is already looking forward to expand its drugs pipeline with its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda, which alone generated more than one-third of company’s revenues.
The acquisition deal was appreciated by several analysts with the perspective that it would provide the pharma company with multiple revenue generating opportunities.
Geoffrey Porges, analyst at SVB Leerink, said that Merck will get access to several blockbuster drugs in Acceleron’s pipeline including Sotatercept and Reblozyl. He said, “Acceleron will offer a buyer a relatively secure $1B to $1.5B in estimated revenue by 2025, increasing to an estimated $2.7B by 2030, and it is not unreasonable to expect the contribution to be $3.5B in revenue by 2030.”
After the start of trading in New York market, Acceleron’s shares dropped by 0.4% while those of Merck rose up to 1.8% by cause of the deal.
