Merck to buy Cubist in $9.5 b deal

New York, Dec 09, 2014 – Merck & Co Inc said on Monday it would buy Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc in a deal valued at $9.5 billion, giving the major drugmaker an entry into the market for drugs that target so-called superbugs.

Merck and British rival AstraZeneca Plc have turned their attention to newer kinds of antibiotics that attack superbugs — strains of bacteria that are resistant to several types of antibiotics — after the 2013 threat report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention.

The CDC estimated that more than two million people in the United States are sickened every year by such infections, with at least 23,000 dying as a result.

Cubist’s lead drug, Ceftolozane/Tazobactamis, is widely expected to win marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later this month as a treatment for complicated urinary tract infections.

The deal includes assumption of $1.1 billion in debt. Business Line