Merck Sharp and Dohme announces Idenix takeover

Merck Sharp and Dohme has announced a deal to purchase Idenix Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of medicines for the treatment of human viral diseases.

The $3.85 billion (2.29 billion pounds) deal has been approved by the boards of both companies and will give Merck access to a promising portfolio of hepatitis C candidates, based on Idenix's expertise in nucleoside/nucleotide chemistry and prodrug technologies.

It currently has three HCV drug candidates in clinical development – the nucleotide prodrugs IDX21437 and IDX21459 and a NS5A inhibitor called samatasvir. They are being evaluated for potential inclusion in the development of innovative combination regimens.

The merger is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2014 and will complement Merck's existing capabilities and strategy.

Dr Roger Perlmutter, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said the acquisition will help Merck achieve its goal of creating "a highly effective, once-daily, all oral, ribavirin-free, pan-genotypic regimen that has a duration of treatment as short as possible for millions of patients in need around the world".

The firm is currently pursuing a new corporate strategy with the aim of becoming the world's premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company. To this end, it sold off its consumer care division to Bayer earlier this year for $14.2 billion.