Merck, a global healthcare company, completed the acquisition of Exelead, a developer of liquid injectables for rare diseases or small populations, for $780m. “With the addition of Exelead’s leading capabilities and highly experienced team, Merck achieves an important milestone in becoming one of the leading CDMO players in mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, offering an integrated CDMO across the mRNA value chain from pre-clinical to commercial. mRNA holds much promise as a treatment well beyond Covid-19 and we will further invest in this technology to help realize its potential," Matthias Heinzel, Merck Member of the Executive Board and CEO Life Science.