Merck (NYSE: [[ticker:MRK]]) said today it has agreed to acquire Raleigh, NC-based Inspire Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ISPH]]) for $430 million. Merck agreed to pay $5 a share, or about a 26 percent premium above Inspire’s last closing stock price before the deal was announced. Inspire markets azithromycin ophthalmic solution (Azasite) for the treatment of eye infections.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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