Merck to buy Acceleron for about US$11.5b in rare disease drugs push

[BENGALURU] Merck will buy drugmaker Acceleron Pharma for about US$11.5 billion, the companies said on Thursday, as the US pharmaceutical giant looks to beef up its portfolio with drugs for rare diseases.

Merck will pay US$180 per Acceleron share in cash, representing a premium of about 2.6 per cent to the stock's closing price on Wednesday, according to Refinitiv data.

The deal gives Merck, which makes the blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda, access to a potentially lucrative rare disease drug candidate, sotatercept.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Acceleron focuses on therapeutics that treat cardiovascular and other blood-related disorders. Its sotatercept drug, which is currently in a late-stage study, is aimed at treating a rare cardiovascular disease called pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a type of high blood pressure that affects the lungs.

The market for treatments targeting rare diseases has become lucrative, as drugmakers typically charge higher prices for drugs which serve small patient populations.

An estimated 25-30 million Americans are living with a rare disease, according to the US National Institute Of Health, prompting a number of drugmakers to eye that slice of the market.

Along with sotatercept, Merck will gain access to Reblozyl, which is approved for the treatment of two blood-related disorders, including anaemia in patients with beta thalaessemia.

"Although the acquisition of Acceleron will not fully remove the overhang of generic competition for Merck's single largest drug Keytruda (we estimate 37 per cent of 2021 sales), it does help diversify sales - which addresses a large shareholder concern," Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Louise Chen said in a client note.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

REUTERS