Inspired by ASH data, Merck's Roger Perlmutter swoops in with a $2.75B ROR1 buyout aimed at beefing up the cancer pipeline
Roger Perlmutter has a few more moves to make before he exits the top job in Merck R&D.
The pharma giant is buying VelosBio for $2.75 billion in cash, grabbing a promising ROR1 antibody drug conjugate that is now in Phase I and Phase II studies for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.
Perlmutter, who will leave at the end of the year after building Keytruda into a monster drug franchise, clearly likes the data he’s seen from the biotech. And the oncology group sees plenty of opportunities for the rest of the pipeline at VelosBio, which raised a crossover round of $137 million just a few months ago in an apparent move toward an IPO.
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