Merck to Acquire Terns Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 Billion to Strengthen Blood Cancer Portfolio

3Month25On [date], Merck & Co. and Terns Pharmaceuticals (Terns Biologics) announced that they have reached a definitive agreement, under which Merck will acquire Terns for $53.00 per share in cash through its subsidiary, with a total equity value of approximately $6.7 billion. After deducting the acquired cash, the net value of the transaction is about $5.7 billion, representing a premium of approximately 31% over the 60-day volume-weighted average stock price as of March 24, 2026, and a premium of about 42% over the 90-day volume-weighted average stock price.

Terns' core candidate drug, TERN-701, is a novel oral allosteric BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), currently being evaluated in a Phase I/II study (NCT06163430) for the efficacy and safety in patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia who have previously received at least one TKI treatment and experienced treatment failure, suboptimal response, or intolerance. In March 2024, the U.S. FDA granted TERN-701 orphan drug designation for the treatment of CML.

Merck Chairman and CEO Robert M. Davis said, "The acquisition of Terns further strengthens our position in the field of hematology. TERN-701 has the potential to become the best-in-class candidate drug for treating specific patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. This transaction further enriches and reinforces our presence in the oncology sector, and we will continue to seek opportunities to expand our portfolio into other therapeutic areas."”

In clinical trials to date, TERN-701 has demonstrated favorable activity, with high rates of major molecular response and deep molecular response observed by week 24. Notably, this includes responses in patients with high tumor burden who have previously received multiple lines of therapy, many of whom were treated with allosteric TKIs. Most treatment-emergent adverse events were low-grade, with a low incidence of serious adverse events and treatment discontinuation. No clinically significant blood pressure changes were observed, and the rate of lipase elevation was also low.

The PharmaCube database shows that in July 2020, Shanghai Tuozhen Biological Technology Co., Ltd. granted Hansoh Pharma the exclusive development and commercialization rights of TERN-701 in Greater China (development code HS-10382). In this transaction, Shanghai Tuozhen Biological Technology Co., Ltd. received an upfront payment and milestone payments totaling no more than US$68 million, as well as royalties based on product sales.

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