Merck had previously offered anywhere from $28 billion to $32 billion to swallow Revolution Medicines.
Discussions for a potential acquisition between Merck and Revolution Medicines have fallen apart, with the two companies failing to reach an agreement on the purchase price, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The companies could still return to the negotiating table, the Journal added, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, or other potential buyers could emerge to bid on Revolution.
Earlier this month, The Financial Times also reported that Merck was courting Revolution, with pricing proposals reaching anywhere from $28 billion to $32 billion. At the time, these rumors sent Revolution’s shares soaring 12.7%—a growth that the biotech has largely maintained so far.
Revolution is trading at $119.49 in after-hours trading, a 1.54% uptick from its closing price of $117.68 on Friday.
AbbVie earlier this month was reportedly circling Revolution as well, with the Journal on Jan. 7 noting that the pharma was making an offer as high as $20 billion. AbbVie later denied these reports.
The acquisition interest surrounding Revolution is likely driven by its lead asset daraxonrasib, an oral selective blocker of RAS that targets the activated version of the protein. Phase I data released in September 2025 showed a 29% confirmed objective response rate (ORR) when used as a second-line treatment option for patients with pancreatic cancer carrying RAS mutations. In the first-line setting, daraxonrasib hit 47% ORR.
Daraxonrasib also won an FDA Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher in October 2025—a ticket that could drastically shorten its review time from 10–12 months down to 1–2 months. Revolution has plotted out a busy year for daraxonrasib. The biotech is expecting two pancreatic cancer readouts in the first half of 2026, followed by two study launches in the back half of the year, one in pancreatic cancer and another in non-small cell lung cancer.
For Merck, acquiring Revolution would have helped shore up revenues after the impending loss of Keytruda’s exclusivity. At the recently concluded J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, CEO Rob Davis said that the pharma is “not limited from a balance sheet” perspective, and that it has “multi tens of billions of dollars” in dealmaking firepower.
