Stock Market News

Merck in Advanced Talks to Acquire Seagen for $40 Billion – WSJ

2022.07.07 13:06

Merck in Advanced Talks to Acquire Seagen for $40 Billion - WSJ
Merck (MRK) in Advanced Talks to Acquire Seagen (SGEN) for $40 Billion – WSJ

By Senad Karaahmetovic

Merck & Co . (NYSE:MRK) is close to agreeing to buy the biotechnology company Seagen (NASDAQ:SGEN) in a deal that can be worth about $40 billion, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The ongoing talks suggest that Merck could pay more than $200 per share to acquire Seagen and the two companies are looking to close the deal prior to Merck’s quarterly earnings report, scheduled for July 28.

Shares of Seagen are up nearly 3% in pre-market Thursday while Merck stock price is down 1%.

Even though Merck and Seagen are currently in advanced talks, there are no guarantees the two companies will close a deal, the WSJ report added.

The move comes as Merck seeks to expand its cancer drug offerings. Merck is well known for its immunotherapy medicine Keytruda, used for treating lung cancer, melanoma, head and neck cancer, and stomach cancer, among others. Keytruda was Merck’s best-selling product with $17.2 billion in sales in 2021.

Acquiring Seagen would also help Merck weather the blow the pharmaceutical company is expected to face when Keytruda loses patent protection, which analysts estimate will happen at the end of the decade. According to analysts at Cowen & Co, the immunotherapy drug could represent as much as 40% of the company’s sales in 2027.

 

Source

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 98,394.36 0.24%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,424.12 2.19%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.02%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 256.95 1.63%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 664.65 2.59%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.47 4.07%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.438068 4.46%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.02%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.07 1.43%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,423.22 2.24%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.215288 3.49%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.588336 38.51%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 42.68 3.26%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.48 16.27%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000027 0.44%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 4,059.37 2.24%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 98,182.31 0.05%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 9.16 22.74%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 17.84 6.37%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 514.31 4.37%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,425.16 2.25%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.46 3.38%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000021 2.87%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.66 1.02%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.49 4.36%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 101.41 2.35%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 13.02 2.06%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 11.04 8.06%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,609.08 2.35%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.150903 0.97%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.78 7.97%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.199331 6.34%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.41%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.584942 12.57%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 30.22 3.65%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.97 2.63%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 539.68 4.49%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.52 16.00%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.154041 1.13%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.07%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.888577 9.74%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000048 5.64%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 9.17 19.20%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.74 0.48%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.91 19.51%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.043319 7.76%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.01%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.73 2.27%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 3.34 0.29%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 54.74 10.55%