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German Pharma Giant Merck KGaA Snaps Up Biotech Silence Therapeutics in $1.3 Billion Cash Deal
The all-cash buyout hands Merck KGaA an experimental rare-blood-cancer drug and pays Silence shareholders a 130% premium — the latest sign Big Pharma is on a rare-disease buying spree.
Merck KGaA, the German pharmaceutical giant unrelated to the U.S.-based Merck & Co., announced Monday it will acquire British biotech Silence Therapeutics in an all-cash deal valued at roughly $1.3 billion in equity value, the companies confirmed in a joint announcement.
Under the terms of the deal, Merck KGaA will pay $20.00 in cash for each Silence American Depositary Share — a 130% premium over Friday's closing price and an 82% premium to the stock's 30-day average, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The transaction, structured as a U.K. scheme of arrangement, still needs sign-off from Silence shareholders, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, and regulators, with both companies targeting a close in the first quarter of 2027.
The Prize: A Once-Quarterly Shot for a Rare Blood Cancer
The deal's centerpiece is divesiran, an experimental siRNA therapy targeting polycythemia vera, a rare bone marrow disorder that causes the body to overproduce red blood cells. The drug already holds Fast Track and Orphan Drug designations from the FDA, and Fierce Biotech reported that the acquisition follows a strong Phase 2 readout for the drug earlier this year.
Silence's board described the agreement as the product of "a competitive sale process," while the biotech's chief executive said the deal places divesiran "with a company that has the scale, resources and commercial capabilities to accelerate its Phase 3 development," per Endpoints News.
"THE SCALE, RESOURCES AND COMMERCIAL CAPABILITIES TO ACCELERATE PHASE 3 DEVELOPMENT."
For Merck KGaA, the purchase is the latest move in a broader pivot toward specialty and rare-disease drugs, following last year's acquisition of SpringWorks Therapeutics. The company says it plans to fund the all-cash purchase with new debt rather than existing cash reserves.
The news caps a volatile stretch for Silence, which raised roughly $201 million in a public stock offering just two months ago at $13.50 per ADS — meaning the buyout price represents nearly a 50% premium over that offering alone. Pending regulatory and court approval, Silence will be absorbed into Merck KGaA's pipeline, and divesiran's next major test — a Phase 3 trial — will happen under new ownership.