Merck said Thursday it agreed to acquire Pandion Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech firm developing products for patients with autoimmune diseases, in a deal valued at $1.85 billion, amid hopes that pharma M&A activity rebounds this year.
Based in Cambridge, Mass., Pandion’s lead candidate product, PT101, a potential treatment of ulcerative colitis and other autoimmune diseases, completed a phase 1-A clinical trial earlier this year, which, Merck said, “achieved its primary objective of safety and tolerability.”
Pandion’s President, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder, Jo Viney, is a MassNextGen Executive Coach, helping female entrepreneurs refine their business strategies and effectively raise capital. The MassNextGen program is a five year, more than $2 million commitment to ensure greater gender parity in the next generation of life science entrepreneurs.