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American multinational pharmaceutical company Merck has signed a definitive agreement to acquire biotech group Cidara Therapeutics, valuing the deal at about $9.2 billion

The deal is expected to close in 1Q 2026 once customary antitrust and tender-offer conditions are met.

Both boards have approved the transaction. At the centre of the deal is CD388, Cidara’s first-in-class, long-acting antiviral engineered to provide season-long, strain-agnostic prevention of influenza – a proposition Merck believes addresses a public-health gap for the 110 million high-risk individuals underserved by current vaccines and oral antivirals.

Merck CEO Robert M. Davis framed the move as another step in the company’s “science-led business-development strategy,” stressing CD388’s potential to become “an important driver of growth through the next decade” and generate over $5bn in peak annual sales.

For operators, the once-per-season subcutaneous regimen could streamline clinic workflows relative to multi-dose antivirals, while investors will see a late-phase asset with projected U.S. patent protection into the 2040s.