This acquisition adds rolofylline, NovaCardia's investigational Phase III compound for acute heart failure, to Merck's pipeline.
Merck has acquired all the outstanding equity of NovaCardia for a total purchase price of $366.4 million (including $16.4 million of cash and investments on hand at closing), which was paid through the issuance of 7.3 million shares of Merck common stock to the former NovaCardia shareholders.
Approximately $325 million of the purchase price will be accounted for as in-process R&D costs, which is expected to result in a charge to Merck's third quarter earnings of 15 cents per share.