I recent Reuters article reported that Merck & Co Inc said it would buy Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc IDIX.O for $3.85 billion and plans to combine the two companies’ most promising drugs to produce a faster, more effective cure for hepatitis C.
Merck said it would pay $24.50 per share, more than three times Idenix’s Friday closing price of $7.23.
The payoff for Merck could come from a triple therapy that may cure patients with all genotypes, or strains, of the hepatitis C virus in as little as four to six weeks, its research chief, Roger Perlmutter, said in an interview.
“An ideal therapy means something that works in every hepatitis C-infected patient, irrespective of which genotype,” Perlmutter said. “Our goal is to cure everyone quickly using an oral regimen.”
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Myles Haverluck 