Merck to Buy Acceleron Pharma for $11.5 Billion

The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported that the companies were nearing a deal.

Shares of Acceleron rose dramatically last week, increasing from a closing price of $139.55 on Sept. 20 to $167.65 on Sept 24.

Acceleron’s crown jewel is an experimental drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension, a disease caused by high pressure in the blood vessels leading from the heart to the lungs. The condition leads to less oxygen in the blood.

Companies including Johnson & Johnson sell pulmonary arterial hypertension therapies. Yet Acceleron’s drug, called sotatercept, promises to be the first that doesn’t just treat symptoms and slow down the disease, but could potentially stop it.

In striking the deal, Merck appears to have beaten out other potential suitors for Acceleron, including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. , which already owns a big stake in the company.

The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter.

Healthcare is typically one of the busiest areas for deals, and other pharmaceutical companies are also pursuing acquisitions as a faster way of gaining access to new drugs than developing them in-house over a longer period. Baxter International Inc. in early September struck a $10.5 billion deal to acquire rival medical-equipment maker Hill-Rom Holdings Inc.