Merck to Acquire Idenix Pharma for $3.85B

June 9, 2014

According to a New York Times article, Merck will buy the biotechnology company Idenix Pharmaceuticals for $3.85 billion in an effort to bolster its arsenal of potential drugs in the hotly competitive hepatitis C area, the companies announced on Monday.

“Idenix has established a promising portfolio of hepatitis C candidates,’’ Dr. Roger Perlmutter, the president of Merck Research Laboratories, said in a statement Monday. He said those candidates would help Merck develop what is considered an ideal regimen – taken once a day for as short a duration as possible and highly effective against all subtypes of the hepatitis C virus. Read the full story