Merck to Buy Harpoon Therapeutics For $680-M

Merck & Co. has announced that it would acquire cancer drug developer Harpoon Therapeutics for about $680 million, reinforcing its oncology portfolio with immunotherapies, according to Sriparna Roy and Bhanvi Satija Re for Reuters.

Merck has proposed $23 per share in cash for California-based Harpoon. I Photo: Coolcaesar Wiki Commons

The US drugmaker has been focusing on building future revenue streams as its blockbuster immunotherapy, Keytruda, approaches losing key patents, making room for competition from biosimilars.

Merck has proposed $23 per share in cash for California-based Harpoon, representing a 118% premium to the stock's last close on Friday.

Shares of Harpoon more than doubled premarket on Monday after deal talks were first reported by Bloomberg.

Harpoon has two immunotherapies in early development - one for a type of lung cancer and the other for multiple myeloma. Immunotherapies harness the power of the body's immune system to treat people suffering from cancer and work by directing the patient's T cells to recognize and attack the cancer.

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