(CercleFinance.com) – Merck announced on Sunday that it had reached an agreement to acquire its compatriot Prometheus Biosciences for an amount of around 10.8 billion dollars.
The American biopharmaceutical giant explains that the operation will allow it to strengthen its portfolio of drug projects in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Under the offer, Prometheus shareholders will receive $200 in cash for each of their shares, a premium of more than 75% over Friday’s closing price.
Based in San Diego, California, Prometheus is behind the discovery of PRA023, a humanized monoclonal antibody that has seen encouraging phase 2 data in the treatment of ulcerative colitis.
According to Merck, this drug could also show promising results in the treatment of Crohn’s disease and other autoimmune pathologies.
According to analysts at Invest Securities, this product has the potential of a ‘blockbuster’, that is to say a drug generating a turnover of more than one billion dollars per year.
‘This acquisition aims to compensate for the loss of revenue caused by the loss of exclusivity on Merck’s star product, Keytruda’, they explain.
‘As a reminder, Merck was in talks for the acquisition of Seagen, in front of Pfizer which ended up concluding the acquisition for an amount of 43 billion dollars’, they add.
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