In today’s Pharmaceutical Executive Daily, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, agrees to acquire Silence Therapeutics for roughly $1.3 billion to gain the siRNA asset divesiran, Hansoh Pharma enters a collaboration and license agreement with Roche worth more than $15 billion covering a broad portfolio of antibody-drug conjugate programs, and an EMA advisory committee recommends marketing authorization for Eli Lilly’s Foundayo for weight management and type 2 diabetes in the European Union.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Silence Therapeutics, a London-based, clinical-stage biotech, in an all-cash deal valuing the company at an equity value of approximately $1.3 billion, or $20 per American depositary share, an 82% premium to its 30-day volume-weighted average price. The deal gives Merck access to divesiran, a phase III-ready siRNA therapy for phlebotomy-dependent polycythemia vera that posted an 88% responder rate versus 19% for placebo in its phase II study. The transaction is unanimously approved by both boards and expects to close in the first quarter of 2027.
Hansoh Pharma enters a strategic collaboration and license agreement with Roche covering a broad portfolio of antibody-drug conjugate programs, the second ADC partnership between the two companies. Hansoh stands to receive a $400 million upfront payment and a $110 million first-anniversary payment, plus eligibility for more than $15 billion in milestone payments and tiered royalties. Hansoh leads early development through global Phase Ia trials, after which Roche takes over worldwide development outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
Finally, an EMA advisory committee recommends granting EU marketing authorization for Eli Lilly’s Foundayo, an oral GLP-1 pill known generically as orforglipron, for weight management and type 2 diabetes in adults. The recommendation draws on studies covering more than 4,740 adults for the obesity indication and 3,765 adults for diabetes, and positions Foundayo as the second oral GLP-1 receptor agonist available in the EU for weight management, behind Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill. The European Commission’s final decision is expected within weeks.
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