Pharma BD Deal Intelligence

Merck & Co. Inc. / Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

2026 · Acquisition/Merger · $6.7B · Complete

Outcome grade pending — assessed 5 years post-close.

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The coverage arc

Mar 25, 2026 ApexOnco Neutral

Merck & Co announced the acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 billion following the company's presentation of strong clinical data at ASH. The deal…

Mar 25, 2026 MedCity News Bullish

Merck's $6.7B Terns Acquisition Positions It to Challenge a Blockbuster Novartis Cancer Drug. The deal centers on TERN-701, a drug in development for chronic…

May 05, 2026 www.merck.com Neutral

Merck announced the successful completion of the acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals on May 5, 2026. The tender offer expired one minute after 11:59 p.m. ET…

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Merck acquired Terns Pharmaceuticals for $53/share or ~$6.7B equity value (~$5.7B net of cash), adding TERN-701 to its hematology pipeline ahead of the 2028 Keytruda LOE. The asset is a differentiated allosteric BCR::ABL1 TKI for CML positioned to compete with Novartis' Scemblix. The all-cash tender offer expired May 4, 2026 with ~86.36% of shares (100,091,794) validly tendered, and Merck completed the acquisition via merger on May 5, 2026; Terns shares were converted into the right to receive $53.00 in cash. Merck expects an ~$5.8B in-process R&D charge (~$2.35/share) in its 2026 results.

Key facts

Related deals — scored

DealYearValueOutcome
Merck & Co. Inc. / Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (this deal)2026$6.7B
Merck & Co. Inc. / Acceleron Pharma Inc.2021$11.5B90
Merck & Co. Inc. / Peloton Therapeutics Inc.2019$2.2B88
Merck & Co. Inc. / AstraZeneca PLC2017$8.5B87
Merck & Co. Inc. / Moderna, Inc.2022$250M86
Merck & Co. Inc. / Moderna, Inc.2016$250M84
Merck & Co. Inc. / Eisai Co., Ltd.2018$5.8B83

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