Topic: How To Invest

Power Growth Investor Hotline – Friday, May 31, 2024

Article Excerpt

MERCK & CO. INC., $125.54, is a buy. The drugmaker (symbol MRK on New York) is a pharmaceutical leader in oncology, acute-care and animal health drugs as well as vaccines. Merck has just agreed to acquire privately held biotech EyeBio for as much as $3 billion. It will pay $1.3 billion in cash and another $1.7 billion in future milestone-based payments. London-based EyeBio, which operates as Eyebiotech Ltd., has operations in the U.S. and the U.K. EyeBio, founded by SV Health Investors, is backed by Kate Bingham, the former head of the U.K.’s COVID-19 vaccine taskforce. With the purchase, Merck will gain access to EyeBio’s retinal disease drug Restoret. EyeBio is testing the experimental therapy Restoret in early-stage trials for retinal diseases characterized by abnormalities in blood vessels that can lead to impaired vision. As well, EyeBio recently completed early-stage testing of the drug for diabetic macular edema, a type of swelling in the eye, and is expected to enter a mid-stage trial for the…