On April 28, 2025 Merck (DAX: MRK), a leading science and technology company, and SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SWTX), a Stamford, Connecticut-based commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on severe rare diseases and cancer, reported the companies have entered into a definitive agreement for Merck to acquire SpringWorks (Press release, Merck KGaA, APR 28, 2025, View Source [SID1234654400]). The purchase price of $47 per share in cash represents an equity value of approximately $3.9 billion, or an enterprise value of $3.4 billion (€3.0 billion) based on SpringWorks’ cash balance as of December 31, 2024, and a premium of 26% to SpringWorks’ unaffected 20-day volume-weighted average price of $37.38 on February 7, 2025, the day prior to the first market speculation of a potential transaction between Merck and SpringWorks.
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"The agreed acquisition of SpringWorks is a major step in our active portfolio strategy to position Merck as a globally diversified, innovation and technology powerhouse. For our Healthcare sector, it sharpens the focus on rare tumors, accelerates growth, and strengthens our presence in the U.S.," said Belén Garijo, Chair of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck. "Beyond this planned transaction, we will continue to explore M&A opportunities across our three complementary business sectors, always with a firm focus on strategic fit, financial robustness, and long-term value creation."
The planned transaction is fully aligned with the business development/M&A priorities of Merck’s Healthcare business as outlined during the company’s Capital Markets Day in October 2024: to continue to pursue external innovation via in-licensing of high-quality compounds at various stages of development and focused acquisitions that promise early value creation. It also fits with the strategic objective of strengthening Merck’s Healthcare presence in the United States, the world’s largest pharmaceutical market.
Upon closing, the business combination will immediately contribute to Merck’s revenues and is expected to be accretive to Merck’s earnings per share pre (EPS pre) in 2027. The acquisition will be funded with available cash and new debt. Beyond this planned transaction, Merck will retain the ability to pursue larger transactions and continue to evaluate opportunities across its three sectors, with Life Science a priority. Merck is committed to preserving its strong investment grade credit rating.
SpringWorks’ rare tumor portfolio, including a marketed first-in-class, systemic standard-of-care therapy for adults with desmoid tumors and the first and only approved therapy for adults and children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) who have symptomatic plexiform neurofibromas (PN) not amenable to complete resection, will accelerate immediate and sustainable revenue growth for Merck. SpringWorks’ portfolio complements Merck’s progress in rare tumors, with Merck recently exercising an option for worldwide commercialization rights for pimicotinib, an investigational therapy developed by Abbisko Therapeutics Co., Ltd. for patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT).
"We have the unique opportunity with SpringWorks to establish a leadership position in rare tumors and build a strong foundation for further investments in this area, where a large unmet medical need exists," said Peter Guenter, member of the Executive Board and CEO of Healthcare at Merck. "Together, Merck and SpringWorks are the perfect combination to improve outcomes for patients with rare tumors and bring therapeutic innovations to more patients worldwide while building on and reinforcing the early success of SpringWorks in the United States. For Merck, the planned acquisition will create long term, sustainable growth for our Healthcare business. Along with my successor Danny Bar-Zohar, we look forward to completing this strategic transaction and making a meaningful difference for patients whose lives are so profoundly affected by these complex and challenging tumors."
The agreed acquisition provides SpringWorks with an opportunity to expand its reach into markets beyond the U.S. and leverage the breadth of resources of Merck’s global Healthcare organization.
"From the outset, our focus at SpringWorks has been to create transformative solutions for patients suffering from serious diseases. We have successfully launched two best-in-class medicines in the United States, and with the aspiration to deliver our therapies worldwide, our journey is at a pivotal juncture. It became clear during our discussions with the Merck team that we share many core values, including a commitment to help more patients with rare tumors live longer, better lives," said Saqib Islam, CEO of SpringWorks Therapeutics. "We believe that by joining forces with Merck, we are not only creating significant, immediate value for our stakeholders, but we will also be able to leverage their resources and expertise to build a brighter future for the patient communities we seek to serve while also creating new opportunities for SpringWorks employees as part of a global organization."
SpringWorks’ U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapy, OGSIVEO (nirogacestat) is a first-in-class therapy that is the systemic standard of care for the treatment of adult patients with progressing desmoid tumors who require systemic treatment. SpringWorks’ marketing authorization application (MAA) for nirogacestat is under review with the European Medicines Agency (EMA), with a Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) decision expected in Q2 2025.
GOMEKLI (mirdametinib) is the first and only FDA-approved therapy for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients 2 years of age and older with NF1-PN not amenable to complete resection. The FDA’s February 2025 approval of GOMEKLI was based on positive data from SpringWorks’ Phase 2b ReNeu trial, which showed GOMEKLI treatment resulted in a robust objective response rate, deep and durable reductions in tumor volume, and a manageable safety profile. With the approval, SpringWorks was granted a rare pediatric disease priority review voucher by the FDA. The marketing authorisation application for mirdametinib has been validated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) with a potential approval in 2025. In addition, SpringWorks is advancing its pipeline with additional programs in other tumor settings that are currently underserved.
The transaction has been unanimously approved, by all those in attendance, by both the Merck and SpringWorks Boards of Directors and is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including approval of SpringWorks’ shareholders and receipt of required regulatory approvals.
J.P. Morgan is acting as exclusive financial advisor and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is acting as legal counsel to Merck. Centerview Partners LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC are acting as joint financial advisors to SpringWorks, and Goodwin Procter LLP is acting as SpringWorks’ legal counsel.