Merck, one of the world’s largest drugmakers, agreed to buy Seattle-based biotechnology company Immune Design for $300 million in cash.
The deal’s price tag, at $5.85 per share, amounted to a more than 300 percent premium on the stock’s price at the previous day’s close. Shares of the company skyrocketed on the news.
“Scientists at Immune Design have established a unique portfolio of approaches to cancer immunization and adjuvant systems designed to enhance the ability of a vaccine to protect against infection, which could meaningfully improve vaccine development,” Dr. Roger M. Perlmutter, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said in a statement.
