Merck buys Raleigh drugmaker for $10 billion, drawn by new COPD treatment
In one of the biggest health care deals of 2025, the pharmaceutical giant Merck has acquired the British drugmaker Verona Pharma for roughly $10 billion.
Merck announced its purchase of the publicly traded company, which has its U.S. headquarters in Raleigh, on Wednesday. Founded in 2005, Verona produces ensifentrine, a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, that the Food and Drug Administration approved in June 2024.
The company markets its flagship drug under the name Ohtuvayre.
“Ohtuvayre complements and expands our pipeline and portfolio of treatments for cardio-pulmonary diseases while delivering near- and long-term growth as well as value for shareholders,” Merck CEO Robert Davis said in a statement.
In 2020, Verona opened its U.S. headquarters in Raleigh, and three years later, the company moved its local offices to Six Forks Road.
Last summer, Ensifentrine became the first new COPD maintenance treatment in more than a decade. COPD inhibits lung function, causing shortness of breath and chronic cough. The disease affects more than 16 million adults in the United States, and is the sixth leading cause of death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has no cure, but symptoms can be managed with medications and lifestyle changes.
The direct and indirect costs of COPD total $50 billion annually, Verona Pharma chief commercialization officer Chrisopher Martin told The News & Observer last year.
In a statement Wednesday, Verona CEO David Zaccardelli said joining Merck “will help accelerate the potential of Ohtuvayre to reach more patients living with COPD.”
The deal is the second priciest in health care this year, according to the industry outlet BioPharma Drive, behind Johnson & Johnson’s $14.6 billion purchase of Intra-Cellular in January. Verona Pharma’s stock price jumped more than 20% Wednesday after Merck agreed to buy the company at $107 a share, a 23% premium on Verona’s Tuesday closing price of $87.
Based in New Jersey, Merck is the world’s 42nd-largest public company by market capitalization. In March, the drugmaker opened a $1 billion vaccine manufacturing facility in north Durham, at its existing campus off Old Oxford Road.
At the time, Merck said it employed more than 1,000 workers in Durham.
This story was originally published July 9, 2025 at 3:11 PM.
