Jan 8 (Reuters) - Merck is in talks to buy cancer drug developer Revolution Medicines, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Revolution shares closed nearly 5%
up, while Merck ended 2% higher.
Merck has been pursuing an acquisition of Revolution Medicines, however, a deal has not been finalised, the report said, adding a tie-up would be at least several weeks away.
Other large pharmaceutical groups were still circling the biotech and another suitor might yet prevail, the FT report said, adding a transaction is not a foregone conclusion.
The report did not include a deal value, but the biotech has a market capitalization of nearly $20 billion, as of the stock's close on Wednesday.
Revolution Medicines and Merck did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Merck, which is set to lose patents for its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda later this decade, has nearly tripled its late-stage pipeline since 2021 through in-house development and big deals such as the $11.5 billion purchase of Acceleron for pulmonary arterial hypertension drug Winrevair.
A potential buyout of Revolution could give Merck access to its experimental drug daraxonrasib, which is in late-stage trials and has won a fast-track review voucher from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The drug is designed to target multiple mutations in the RAS genes, which are common drivers of major cancers, including certain pancreatic, lung and colorectal cancers.
Mizuho analysts estimate more than $10 billion in potential risk-adjusted sales globally from Revolution's portfolio of RAS inhibitors by 2035.
The FT article came a day after the Wall Street Journal reported that AbbVie was in advanced talks to buy Revolution, a claim the drugmaker later denied.
(Reporting by Puyaan Singh, Siddhi Mahatole and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
