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Full analysis, sources & comparables →Cidara's Cinderella year ends with $9.2B Merck takeout bid. In the past year, Cidara has gone from a company trading below cash at a market cap of about…
Merck announced Monday a definitive agreement to acquire Cidara Therapeutics for approximately $9.2 billion, gaining CD388, a Phase 3 long-acting antiviral…
Merck announced completion of its acquisition of Cidara Therapeutics. As of the tender offer expiration on January 6, 2026, 27,149,333 shares (~85.96% of…
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Merck completed its acquisition of Cidara Therapeutics on January 7, 2026, for $221.50/share in cash (~$9.2B total). The all-cash deal, announced November 17, 2025, was executed as a tender offer (commenced December 5, 2025) that expired January 6, 2026 with ~85.96% of shares (~88.3% of voting power) validly tendered; the back-end merger was consummated the next day under DGCL Section 251(h) without a stockholder vote, making Cidara a wholly owned Merck subsidiary and delisting CDTX from Nasdaq. The deal gives Merck CD388, a Phase 3 long-acting, strain-agnostic antiviral drug-Fc conjugate for influenza prevention in high-risk individuals, with FDA Breakthrough Therapy (Oct 2025) and Fast Track designations. The pivotal ANCHOR Phase 3 study (6,000 participants, target enrollment reached Nov 2025) had a Q1 2026 interim analysis planned to assess powering; topline interim results were not publicly disclosed as of the review date.
| Deal | Year | Value | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merck & Co. Inc. / Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. (this deal) | 2025 | $9.2B | — |
| Merck & Co. Inc. / Acceleron Pharma Inc. | 2021 | $11.5B | 90 |
| Merck & Co. Inc. / Peloton Therapeutics Inc. | 2019 | $2.2B | 88 |
| Merck & Co. Inc. / AstraZeneca PLC | 2017 | $8.5B | 87 |
| Merck & Co. Inc. / Moderna, Inc. | 2022 | $250M | 86 |
| Merck & Co. Inc. / Moderna, Inc. | 2016 | $250M | 84 |
| Merck & Co. Inc. / Eisai Co., Ltd. | 2018 | $5.8B | 83 |
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More: 2025 deals · Merck & Co. Inc. deals · Vaccines deals