Merck Acquires Prometheus Biosciences in $10.8 Billion Deal
Merck (NYSE: MRK) has agreed to acquire Prometheus Biosciences (Nasdaq: RXDX) in a deal valued at $10.8 billion.
The acquisition will build Merck’s position in immunology and insulate the company from revenue loss as its Keytruda patents begin to expire toward the end of the decade.
Prometheus Biosciences’ shares rose by nearly 80% following the news.
Highlights
Prometheus is developing PRA023 for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases including ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and other autoimmune conditions.
In December 2022, Prometheus announced positive results for PRA023 from a Phase 2 study in patients with moderate to severely active ulcerative colitis and a Phase 2a study in patients with moderate to severe Crohn’s disease.
Merck is positioned to launch a late-stage ulcerative colitis study of the drug in the fourth quarter or first quarter of 2024.
About Prometheus Biosciences
Prometheus Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a precision medicine approach for the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapeutic and companion diagnostic products for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases. The company’s precision medicine platform, Prometheus360™, combines proprietary machine learning-based analytical approaches with one of the world’s largest gastrointestinal bioinformatics databases to identify novel therapeutic targets and develop therapeutic candidates to engage those targets.
