By Colin Kellaher

 

Merck & Co. (MRK) Monday said it agreed to buy ArQule Inc. (ARQL) for $20 a share in cash, for a total equity value of roughly $2.7 billion.

The purchase price is more than double Friday's closing price of $9.67 for ArQule, a Burlington Mass., biopharmaceutical company.

Shares of ArQule surged more than 100% to $19.45 in premarket trading.

Merck, a Kenilworth, N.J., drug maker known for the cancer drug Keytruda, said the deal expands its oncology pipeline into targeted therapies that treat hematological malignancies.

Merck said it expects to complete the acquisition early in the first quarter.

 

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2019 07:11 ET (12:11 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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