According to informed sources, U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck is in negotiations to acquire cancer drug developer Revolution Medicines, Inc., with a potential deal value estimated between $28 billion and $32 billion.
Boosted by this news, Revolution's stock price surged nearly 16% in after-hours trading.
Sources indicated that Merck has been actively seeking to acquire Revolution Medicines, although a deal has not yet been finalized, adding that reaching an agreement would take at least several weeks.
The sources noted that other large pharmaceutical groups are also considering a bid for Revolution, suggesting another suitor could emerge victorious, and emphasized that a transaction is not a certainty.
A potential acquisition of Revolution by Merck would represent the largest deal in the pharmaceutical industry in nearly three years, since Pfizer's $43 billion acquisition of cancer biotechnology firm Seagen.
Merck's blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda is set to lose patent protection by the end of this decade; since 2021, the company has nearly tripled its late-stage pipeline through internal development and major deals, such as the $11.5 billion acquisition of Acceleron's pulmonary hypertension drug Winrevair.
A deal with Revolution could grant Merck access to its experimental drug daraxonrasib, which is in late-stage trials and has received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The drug is designed to target multiple mutations of the RAS gene, a common driver of major cancers, including certain types of pancreatic, lung, and colorectal cancers.
Analysts at Mizuho estimate that Revolution's portfolio of RAS inhibitors could achieve global potential sales exceeding $10 billion by 2035.
Comments