Merck to Acquire Terns Pharmaceuticals for $6.7B

By Chris Stiles • Wednesday, March 25 13:38 • Permanent Link

Merck agreed to buy Terns Pharmaceuticals for $53.00 a share in cash, valuing the clinical-stage oncology company at about $6.7 billion in equity value, or about $5.7 billion net of acquired cash.

The price represents a 31% premium to Terns’ 60-day and 90-day volume-weighted average stock price as of March 24, 2026.

The deal centers on Terns’ lead drug candidate, TERN-701, an oral allosteric BCR::ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor being developed for chronic myeloid leukemia. Merck said the acquisition expands its hematology pipeline and strengthens its oncology portfolio.

TERN-701 is in a phase 1/2 trial for patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic phase CML who have already been treated with at least one prior TKI and experienced treatment failure, suboptimal response or intolerance. The dose-escalation portion of the CARDINAL trial finished in January 2025 with no dose-limiting toxicities seen up to 500 mg once daily.

Terns began dose expansion in April 2025, with patients split into two cohorts of 320 mg or 500 mg once daily, up to 40 patients in each arm. In January 2026, Terns added another cohort of about 20 patients with BCR::ABL1 resistance mutations, including T315I, M244V and F359I/C/V.

In clinical trials to date, TERN-701 has shown major molecular response and deep molecular response by week 24, including in patients with high disease burden and multiple prior therapies. Merck said most treatment-emergent adverse events were low grade, with a low incidence of severe adverse events and discontinuations. No clinically meaningful blood pressure changes were observed, and lipase elevations were low.

The transaction has been approved by both boards and is structured as a tender offer followed by a merger. Merck expects to close the deal in the second quarter of 2026. Merck said the transaction will result in a charge of about $5.8 billion, or about $2.35 per share, included in second-quarter and full-year 2026 results. Today the company's shares have moved -1.03% to a price of $36.60. For the full picture, make sure to review Terns Pharmaceuticals's 8-K report.

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