Merck has reached a $ 10 billion agreement to acquire Verona Pharma, a biotech whose first-in-class is already commercialized in widespread lung disease and shows promised under other respiratory conditions. The Multi-Blockbuster potential of this drug is important for Merck, which scouts for assets to compensate for the steep decrease in revenue that will soon come when its top overall product tumbles over the patent cliff.
London-based Verona has US deposit shares trading on Nasdaq. According to the acquisition terms announced on Wednesday, Merck will pay $ 107 for each of these shares, which represents a more than 23% premium for Verona’s final share price Tuesday. When Verona was announced in 2017, it priced shares at $ 13.50 per year. Pcs.
The most important asset in Verona is Ohtuvayre, a drug that the FDA approved last year as the maintenance of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD). This inhaled medicine’s most important pharmaceutical ingredient, a single -fentter line, is a small molecule with a double mechanism of action. In addition to blocking PDE4 enzymes to stop inflammation, it also blocks PDE3 enzymes to expand the airways. This double approach may have applications in other respiratory disorders. Mid-scene studies are underway in asthma, cystic fibrosis and non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.
The Bronchiectasis indication is a particularly promising one as this chronic lung disorder is growing in occurrence and currently has no FDA-approved therapy self it could soon be changed. Insered drug BRENSOCATIB is currently during FDA review in non-cf bronchiectasis. An FDA decision for the oral little molecule is expected of August 12. Industrial observers who project Insmed Drug could become a Blockbuster salesman. Ohtuvayre gives Merck a way to potentially get a piece of the bronchiectasis market.
When Ohtuvayre was approved in June 2024, it was the first inhaled Kol’s drug with a new two decades of action. Since then, Sanofis Dupixent and Nucala from GSK – both biological drugs administered by injection – have expanded their labels specifically to include the treatment of COPD, driven by type 2 inflammation, a new indication for both blockbuster products.
Ohtuvayre is also planned to become a blockbuster seller. Market uptake for the drug in COPD has been fast. In the first quarter of this year, Verona reported about 25,000 Ohtuvayre prescription girls to KOPS and a 50% increase in prescribing of the compared medicine for the fourth quarter of 2024. Revenue in the first quarter was $ 71.3 million, up from $ 36.6 million in the private quarter.
Verona CEO David Zaccardelli told Medcity News in an interview last year that he accelerated his company’s clinical and regulatory validation of PDE3 and PDE4 inhibition with a single molecule would lead to Andriier to pursue drugs working. He added that Verona was obliged to commercialize Ohtuvayre in the United States, but would seek parties to develop and commercialize it in other markets. So far, the only partner Shanghai-based nuance is Pharma to secure rights to the small molecule of Greater China in 2021. In the Merck ad on Wednesday, Zaccardelli said Pharma Giant’s commercial footprint and clinical capabilities will allow Ohtuvayre to reach more COPD patients.
Merck’s top overall product is Cancer Immunotherapy Keytruda, which accounts for $ 29.4 billion in revenue last year, a more than 17% increase in sales in the previous year. But Keytruda’s patent expires in 2028, enabling the pharmaceutical giant to find commercialized assets or drugs in late structure with the potential to fill the upcoming returned gorge.
In an investor presentation, Merck Ohtuvayre representations said a commercial opportunity for more loving dollars in the mid-2030s. The pharma giant framed the Verona acquisition as complementary to its cardio-lung portfolio, which is currently overwritten by Winrevair, a drug that received FDA approval last year to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension. Winrevair came from the $ 11.5 billion acceleron Pharma in 2021. Merck’s older cardiovascular drugs went to organon as this unit spun out of the pharmacy giant that year. Winrevair now stands as the top Merck Cardio product and accounts for $ 419 million in 2024 sales. This drug is also planned to become a blockbuster seller.
“Ohtuvayre complements and expands our pipeline and portfolio of treatments for heart-lung diseases while delivering almost and long-term growth as well as value for shareholders,” Merck CEO Robert Davis said in a prepared tribal. “This novel, first-in-class therapy, addresses an important ID for COPD patients persistently symptomatically based on its unique combination of bronchodilar and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory effects.
Merck’s acquisition of Verona is approved by the boards of both companies. The deal still needs the Verona shareholder and regulatory approvals. Companies expect to close the transaction in the fourth quarter of this year.
Photo: Christopher Occhicone/Bloomberg, via Getty Images