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Genmab plans to buy Merus for $8 billion in cash to get a head and neck cancer drug that might make it onto the market in 2027. By scooping up the Dutch biotech, Copenhagen-based Genmab is gaining access to a bispecific antibody that reached a “ home run scenario ” in Phase 2 results presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology confab in May, Jefferies analysts said at the time. Genmab said Monday it would pay $97 per share $MRUS to get Merus, with the deal anticipated to close early in the first quarter of 2026. Genmab’s shares $GMAB were down 3% before the opening bell. Merus’ stock, meanwhile, jumped 38% in premarket Nasdaq trading to nearly match the buyout price. The move comes two weeks after Genmab culled an early-stage asset from its first-ever acquisition , the $1.8 billion deal for antibody-drug conjugate startup ProfoundBio in 2024. Now, via the industry’s fourth-largest biopharma acquisition so far this year, Genmab could become a global leader in the head and neck cancer fight and accelerate past rivals like Bicara Therapeutics. But there is risk involved. Merus’ petosemtamab, an EGFRxLGR5 antibody, is still in Phase 3 testing and has not yet presented those late-stage results. Interim topline data from one or both Phase 3 studies, in first- and second or third-line head and neck cancer, aren’t anticipated until next year, Genmab said. “We think that the timing is perfect here,” Genmab CEO Jan van de Winkel said on an analyst call. “We went through 56,000 files in due diligence, and we are very, very confident that this is a potential game-changing, potentially transformational bispecific antibody.” Genmab said the drug could reach blockbuster status sales by 2029 and multibillion dollars in annual revenue further down the line. The Epkinly maker said it could have four in-house programs land “multiple new drug launches by 2027.” That includes Rina-S , the lead ADC from the ProfoundBio deal, according to a presentation on Monday. The drug is in Phase 3 testing in ovarian cancer, and Genmab predicts at least $2 billion in peak annual sales from the drug. “We believe Genmab has the right vision and experience to advance petosemtamab in recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer and beyond,” Merus CEO Bill Lundberg said in a press release. Merus had $892 million in cash and equivalents, which was expected to take the company into 2028, it said in an August corporate presentation . Merus nabbed an accelerated approval for its NRG1+ cancer drug Bizengri last December, but the medicine is licensed to Partner Therapeutics, which markets the treatment in the US. Genmab did not mention Merus’ other clinical-stage asset, an EGFRxc-MET bispecific codenamed MCLA-129. Most biopharma M&A deals are valued around a lead or single asset, industry insiders have said . Merus also has potential to receive royalties on candidates in development with partners. Incyte is working on a PD-1xTGFβR2 bispecific dubbed INCA33890, and Ono Pharmaceutical is testing a PD-1xCD3 bispecific named ONO-4685. On the day of the ProfoundBio deal, van de Winkel told Endpoints News that Genmab likely wouldn’t do another major acquisition shortly after inking its first. “There’s a lot to digest. If you asked me if Genmab is ready to do another deal of this size very quickly, the answer is no,” the Genmab CEO told Endpoints in April 2024. Now, the veteran antibody maker is delving further into bispecifics with Merus’ so-called Biclonics antibodies. Bispecifics have become a go-to approach for cancer drug developers in recent years, with the regulatory clearance of multiple medicines drumming up dealmaking interest. Merus had secured platform collaborations with Eli Lilly , Gilead , Biohaven and others over the years. Editor’s note: This story was updated to include a comment from Genmab’s analyst call about the deal.