Big pharma Merck agreed to buy antibiotic specialist Cubist Pharmaceuticals Monday in a deal valued at $9.5 billion, boosting its fight against drug-resistant “superbugs.” Cubist soared 35% to 100.60, while Merck rose a fraction to 61.88. Merck (MRK) agreed to pay $102 a share cash for Cubist (CBST), worth $9.5 billion including $1.1 billion in assumed debt. Merck said the buyout should add more than $1 billion annually to its
Big pharma Merck (MRK) agreed to buy antibiotic specialist Cubist Pharmaceuticals (CBST) Monday in a deal valued at $9.5 billion. Cubist soared 35% in the stock market today, while Merck dropped a fraction. Merck is acquiring Cubist for $102 a share in cash, yielding an equity value of $8.4 billion, plus $1.1 billion in net debt. Merck said the buyout should add more than $1 billion annually to its revenue base, which is currently about $43
Merck (MRK) cholesterol drug Vytorin, an ezetimibe-simvastatin combo, successfully cuts the risk of heart attacks and strokes in high-risk patients more than simvastatin alone, said the drugmaker in its nearly decade-long, 18,144-patient study. “In Improve-It, patients taking the LDL-cholesterol-lowering medicine Vytorin — which combines simvastatin with the nonstatin Zetia (ezetimibe) — experienced significantly fewer major cardiovascular events