Merck bets on flu prevention with $9.2 billion deal for Cidara Therapeutics

(Reuters) – Merck will acquire Cidara Therapeutics in a nearly $9.2 billion deal, the companies ​said on Friday, gaining access to an experimental drug ‌for flu prevention. Merck is looking to diversify its revenue beyond ‌Keytruda as its patents for the blockbuster drug begin to expire later this decade.

Merck will pay $221.50 per share in cash for Cidara, a premium of 108.9% from its last closing price of ⁠$105.99. Cidara shares ‌doubled in value to $216.05 in premarket trading. Since 2021, Merck has nearly ‍tripled its late-stage pipeline, combining in-house development with deals such as the $11.5 billion purchase of Acceleron in 2021, which netted the ​pulmonary arterial hypertension drug Winrevair. In July,‌ Merck signed its $10 billion buyout of UK-based Verona Pharma gaining Ohtuvayre, a newly approved drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, commonly known as “smoker’s lung”. Cidara is developing its long-acting antiviral drug CD388, ⁠which has the potential to be a ​single-dose, universal prevention against all ​flu strains.

Cidara’s CD388 belongs to a class known as drug-Fc conjugates that links a drug to a human ‍antibody fragment.

It ⁠is being studied in late-stage trial and aims to protect those facing the greatest risk of flu such as people with ⁠compromised immune systems or high-risk comorbidities, as its efficacy does not depend on ‌a functional immune system.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in ‌Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)