Merck KGaA's Silence deal adds late-stage rare-disease drug to pipeline

Beckmann frames acquisition as continuation of last year’s SpringWorks deal

Germany’s Merck KGaA has agreed to acquire U.K.-based Silence Therapeutics for $1.3 billion in cash, the German life-sciences and chemicals group said Monday. The transaction would add an experimental medicine for the rare disease polycythemia vera to Merck’s drug pipeline.

Merck said it will pay $20 in cash for each American depositary share of Silence Therapeutics, which is listed on Nasdaq. The offer is more than double Silence’s closing share price on Friday.

The acquisition is intended to strengthen the German group’s rare-disease pipeline by adding divesiran, a drug candidate developed by Silence that is ready to enter late-stage clinical trials, according to Merck.

Silence Therapeutics, which is based in the U.K. and listed on Nasdaq, specializes in short interfering RNA, a gene-silencing technology.

“Following the acquisition of SpringWorks Therapeutics last year, we continue to transform our pipeline toward areas of high specialization and unmet medical need, with an ongoing commitment to external innovation,” Merck Chief Executive Kai Beckmann said.

Beckmann’s reference to the SpringWorks deal frames the Silence acquisition as a continuation of the German group’s effort to reshape its pharmaceutical business around rare-disease medicines.

“Merck has the scale, resources and commercial capabilities to accelerate the late-stage development of the drug,” Silence Therapeutics Chairman and Interim Principal Executive Officer Iain Ross said.