Merck has pulled off another acquisition that happens to fit in its sweet spot, says Rob Davis, its CEO. As Merck acquires Verona Pharma after paying $10 and with it gets its potential blockbuster drug Ohtuvayre, a first-in-class treatment is now added to its chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) segment.
It is well to be noted that this happens to be the second largest deal in biopharma in 2025, ranking only behind the $14.6 billion buyout by Johnson & Johnson of InterCellular. This deal fits the pattern of Merck striking every other year with a major transaction.
Apparently, in 2023, Merck went on to spend $11.5 billion for Acceleron as well as its pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) treatment, which is now known commercially as Winrevair. In 2023, after that, the New Jersey company shelled out $10.8 billion for Prometheus as well as its late-stage bowel disease candidate PRA023.
Notably, the acquisitions happen to be designed to compensate for the anticipated loss of patient protection later in the decade for Keytruda – the cancer superstar that went on to generate $29.5 billion in sales in 2024, accounting for 46% of the revenue of the company.
Davis went on to say in a conference call that the sweet spot they see is that $1 billion to $15 billion range. He added that they have always indicated that they are willing to go beyond that if the right opportunity comes.
Moreover, Davis also said that the company looks forward to launching almost 20 new growth drivers in the coming years, and all of them are going to have blockbuster potential. He further added that Merck is going to continue to look out for oncology, immunology, and cardiometabolic assets by way of business development.
As Merck acquires Verona Pharma, it has agreed to pay $107 per share, which is almost a 23% markupon their price at a market that closed on the 8th of July, 2025, and a 39% premium on the 60-day volume-weighted average price. The companies anticipate that deal will close in the fourth quarter of 2025.
It is well to be noted that the FDA went on to approve potential blockbuster drug Ohtuvayre Ohtuvayre 13 months back as the first novel inhaled treatment when it comes to COPD in more than two decades. The drug can very well be used as a monotherapy or as an add-on medicine along with the present steroid therapy. Being a selective dual inhibitor of the phosphodiesterase- PDE3 as well as phosphodiesterase (PDE4) enzymes Ohtuvayre blends two properties in one drug, thereby setting it apart from the other COPD competitors for its capacity to both open the airways within patients and also decrease their inflammation.
There is no shred of doubt when we say that Ohtuvayre has gotten off to a great start, generating sales of almost $71 million in the first three months of 2025 and also looking out for a 95% growth sequentially. During the three months, there were 25,000 prescriptions that were filled, which was up from 16,000 in 2024. This is indeed a very positive scenario considering that the future outlook towards the disease has a lot more to look into with many innovations taking place.
According to David Zaccardelli, the CEO of Verona, since the launch of Ohtuvayre in August 2024, they have seen a very fast as well as accelerating uptake across the US, especially. He further said that they believe in the commercial footprint as well as along with it the industry leading clinical capacities of Merck are indeed going to help to speed up the potential of Ohtuvayre so as to reach more patients who happen to be living with COPD.
Interestingly, the treatment has not been approved in Europe yet.
Some of that kind of advantageous footprint comes by way of commercialization of Winrevair from Merck. Although it happens to be a product pertaining to rare lung disease, there are many physicians who opine that it will help patients with COPD.
It is well to be noted that the prescriber base for the disease happens to be 14,500 in the US, as per the human health president of Merck, Jannie Oosthuizen. Verona went on to report that 5300 doctors in April 25 alone had prescribed Ohtuvayre in the very first quarter. This is indeed a good number considering that the drug is eyeing to capture the still-growing market and this sort of a positive start does show immense potential of the market and also encourage to keep coming up with strategies that help to build a robust base.
He also says that their scale happens to bring good abilities so as to expand fairly rapidly when it comes to the broader prescriber base, educate, and even get Ohtuvayre to be added to the existing background therapy specifically in those patients who happen to have persistent symptoms. He also added that the company anticipates the market to grow from the present $17 billion to $27 billion by 2032.
The fact remains that the COPD segment still happens to have a lot of scope in terms of development and it doesn’t come as a surprise that there are other companies too that are also joining the COPD space. After a delay, the FDA went on to approve the antibody drug Nucala from GSK in May 2025 as an add-on maintenance treatment when it comes to adults having inadequately controlled COPD and also an eosinophilic phenotype. Amgen and AstraZeneca already have hopes of their asthma drug Tezspire being a potential COPD treatment.
In 2024, Sanofi as well as Regeneron got an approval for Dupixent so as to treat COPD exacerbations. These companies happen to have another second COPD candidate—the IL-33 inhibitor Itepkimab, which is getting tested in a couple of Phase 3 trials.
