Oct 19 (Reuters) – German drugmaker Merck KGaA said on Monday it will acquire Silence Therapeutics in an all-cash deal for about $1.3 billion, adding precision engineered medicines and gene silencing to its portfolio.
Merck will pay $20 per share for Silence, representing a premium of 130% to the stock’s last close. Silence shares climbed 4% in premarket trading.
“The planned acquisition of Silence Therapeutics will strengthen our capabilities to serve patients with targeted specialty and rare diseases,” said Merck CEO Kai Beckmann.
Silence Therapeutics makes a special type of medicine called siRNA that acts like a “mute button” for faulty genes inside the body.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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