Merck & Co to Acquire Acceleron Pharma in Rare Disease Drug Push

BUSINESS HEALTHCARE

Merck & Co. has agreed for purchasing the company ‘Acceleron Pharma Inc., for around 11.5 billion dollars, along with building out the portfolio of the therapies for the purpose of treating the rare diseases.

The shareholders of the company ‘Acceleron’ are going to be getting a share of 180 dollars in cash, along with a premium of 34 percent over the price at the end of the month of August, but it has been below the intraday high of the stocks.

The company Merck has been facing the pressure for expanding the sales of the company beyond Keytruda, which has been blockbuster drug for cancer, which has been accounting for more than a third of the revenue of the company, and it has also been among the several companies that have been on the hunt for the future drugs through the acquisitions that has been including Pfizer, Amgen, Sanofi, Roche Holding AG, and Gilead Sciences Inc.

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Rob Davis, CEO of Merck said, they do see this as a very important step for the purpose of diversifying their portfolio and their pipeline, and he has also been seeing the potential for the multiple billions in the peak sales, which has been that important time frame, that has been approaching the end of the decade along with continuing well to the upcoming decade.

The deal has also been expected to be closed in the fourth quarter and it is also going to be financed with a mixture of debt and cash.