Health

Merck to Cushion Patent Loss With Prometheus Acquisition

Agreed price is 75% premium to biotech company’s Friday close
Pharma giant faces patent cliff for best-selling cancer drug

WATCH: Merck & Co. Inc. has agreed to buy Prometheus Biosciences Inc. for about $10.8 billion. Su Keenan reports.Source: Bloomberg

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By Ros Krasny, Gabriela Mello, and Kristen V Brown

April 16, 2023 at 10:28 AM UTC

Updated on

April 17, 2023 at 1:50 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Merck & Co. will buy Prometheus Biosciences Inc. for about $10.8 billion to bolster its research pipeline and strengthen its portfolio of autoimmune drugs.

The agreement to buy the biotech company is one of the largest pharma deals in recent history and comes as Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda faces the expiration of its patents.