Merck to Acquire ArQule, Advancing Leadership in Oncology

KENILWORTH, N.J. & BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and ArQule, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQL) today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Merck, through a subsidiary, will acquire ArQule for $20 per share in cash for an approximate total equity value of $2.7 billion. ArQule is a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company focused on kinase inhibitor discovery and development for the treatment of patients with cancer and other diseases. ArQule’s lead investigational candidate, ARQ 531, is a novel, oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor currently in a Phase 2 dose expansion study for the treatment of B-cell malignancies.