By Colin Kellaher

Shares of Harpoon Therapeutics doubled in premarket trading Monday after Bloomberg reported that the clinical-stage immunotherapy company is near a deal to be acquired by drugmaker Merck & Co. at a rich premium.

Merck is discussing paying about $700 million, or around $23 a share, for Harpoon, more than double Friday's closing price of $10.55 for the South San Francisco, Calif., company, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Merck, based in Rahway, N.J., could announce a deal within days, according to the report.

Harpoon shares were recently up 100% to $21.08 in premarket trading.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 08, 2024 06:32 ET (11:32 GMT)

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