Merck, a German multinational pharmaceutical, chemical and life sciences company, completed the acquisition of ArQule, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the research and development of targeted therapeutics to treat cancers and rare diseases, for $2.7bn. "ArQule’s focus on precision medicine has yielded multiple clinical-stage oral kinase inhibitors that have novel and important properties. This acquisition strengthens Merck’s pipeline with the addition of these strategic assets including, most notably, ARQ 531, a compelling candidate for the treatment of B-cell malignancies," Roger M. Perlmutter, Merck Research Laboratories President.