Report says MSD is in talks to buy Revolution Meds
Could there be a third big pharma acquisition this week? MSD is rumoured to be in talks to buy Revolution Medicines in a deal that could be worth up to $32 billion.
The chatter – first reported by the Financial Times – sparked a 16% rise in Revolution's share price in pre-market trading on the Nasdaq this morning to give it a valuation above $24 billion, but for now the two companies are staying tight-lipped.
A few days ago, AbbVie was also linked to a possible takeover of Revolution, although that notion was rebuffed. Also this week, Amgen acquired Dark Blue Therapeutics of the UK for $840 million, while Eli Lilly agreed a $1.2 billion takeover of San Diego-based Ventyx Bio.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the FT has suggested that a figure of $28 to $32 billion is being discussed, which would make it the biggest pharma merger since Pfizer's 2023 acquisition of Seagen for $43 billion. Meanwhile, other companies are said to be looking at the Redwood City, California-based company, setting up the prospect of a bidding war.
The prize for acquiring Revolution would be a cancer-focused pipeline headed by daraxonrasib (RMC-6236), a pan-RAS(on) inhibitor in registration trials for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common and aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The RASOLUTE trials programme is looking at the drug as a monotherapy for adjuvant, first-line, and second-line therapy of PDAC, which has very few treatment options, and in RASolve 301 as a second- or third-line NSCLC therapy. Data in previously treated PDAC is due this year, and combination studies are also on the go in various solid tumours.
The pan-RAS category is pretty crowded, with around a dozen candidates in clinical testing, although, Revolution seems to be in the lead with its pivotal programme already underway.
Meanwhile, its pipeline also includes KRAS G12C inhibitor elironrasib (RMC-6291) – which would be a potential rival to Amgen's Lumakras (sotorasib) and Bristol Myers Squibb's Krazati (adagrasib) – and KRAS G12D inhibitor zoldonrasib (RMC-9805), which are in early clinical development. RMC-5127, a RAS(ON) G12V-selective inhibitor, is due to start human testing later this quarter.
For MSD – known as Merck & Co in the US and Canada – adding Revolution's pipeline to its stable could help it compensate for the loss of patent protection on $32 billion immuno-oncology blockbuster Keytruda (pembrolizumab), which is due to start in 2028.
In 2025 alone, MSD acquired infectious disease specialist Cidara Therapeutics for $9.2 billion, respiratory drug developer Verona Pharma for $10 billion, and it also took control of Modifi Biosciences, EyeBio, Abceutics, and Harpoon Therapeutics in 2024.
In the group's third quarter results update last October, MSD's chief executive, Rob Davis, said the group was still on the hunt for more bolt-on deals "with urgency."
Photo by Ash Amplifies on Unsplash
