Merck’s $11.5bn Acceleron Buy Partially Fills Future Keytruda Revenue Gap

Deal Expands Existing Cardiovascular Portfolio

 
• By Mandy Jackson
  
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The company announced the biggest biopharma M&A deal of the year so far, but Merck will need more large deals to manage declining sales when its top-selling product faces biosimilars in 2028. 

Business people working around M&A on wooden table
Analysts anticipate additional bolt-on deals for Merck • Source: Alamy

At first glance, Merck & Co., Inc.’s $11.5bn acquisition of Acceleron Pharma, Inc. with a commercial drug and a late-stage candidate seen as a potential blockbuster seems like a good deal for a company looking to diversify its revenue. However, Acceleron recognizes only a portion of sales from its sole commercial product Reblozyl (luspatercept) from partner Bristol Myers Squibb Company and will have to pay BMS royalties on sales of the Phase III pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) drug sotatercept.

Some analysts cheered the all-cash transaction announced on 30 September and slated to close in the fourth quarter of this...

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