Merck, negotiations to acquire biotech Revolution Medicines stalled
The deal could have valued the company at USD 30 billion, but no agreement on the price seems to have been reached, according to the Wsj
Not all mergers go smoothly. Merck's massive takeover of the biotech Revolution Medicines appears to have fallen through, as the two companies were unable to agree on the price of the deal. The indiscretion was reported by the Wall Street Journal, which cites sources close to the dossier. According to the US newspaper, the deal could have valued Revolution Medicines at around USD 30 billion, but the figure was evidently not considered satisfactory. The rumours were followed by a stock market reaction, which saw Revolution Medicines' shares slide as much as -26% in pre-market trading on Wall Street on Monday, after they had jumped in previous weeks to get closer to the assumed price of the deal.
The needs of the two groups seemed to have come together. On the one hand, Merck is looking for acquisitions to strengthen its portfolio of therapies, so as to compensate for losses related to the expiry of patents that could erode sales by $18 billion over the next five years. The biotech, on the other hand, has several compounds in development and the results of a study on one of its flagship drugs, intended for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer, are expected later this summer. The union with one of the big pharma seemed to be a win-win situation, capable of bringing benefits to both.
The pharma and biotech sector is among those most frequently mentioned for M&A activity this year. Bloomberg data show that in 2025, 34 acquisitions were announced or completed in the sector worth USD 1 billion or more. The total deal value thus exceeded USD 118 billion, up from USD 63 billion in 2024. Now the focus is on developments in the Revolution Medicines affair. At the beginning of January, the WSJ published rumours about AbbVie's interest in taking over the biotech company, which was later denied by the pharmaceutical group itself. Now the market is wondering whether the breakdown in negotiations with Merck might lead AbbVie to reconsider the dossier.
Another open front is that of the French biotech Abivax, which has recently been juxtaposed by press reports with big pharma names. According to rumours, Eli Lilly is ready to submit a EUR 15 billion bid for the Paris-based company, while La Lettre has reported an interest from AstraZeneca. However, the CEO of the transalpine biotech has denied on several occasions that there are ongoing talks with the French government in order to make a bid for the company.
