New York, May 12, 2026, 13:04 (EDT)
- TERN has exited normal trading; Merck’s acquisition is done, and Terns shares have disappeared from Nasdaq, no longer listed or traded.
- Trading held close to $53, with the cash tender offer—rather than any new clinical buzz—providing the main support on the chart.
- Bulls got their big-pharma nod for TERN-701, just as they’d argued. But bears had it too: fresh trial numbers, plus the specifics of the deal, tightened up the public-market upside.
Terns Pharmaceuticals shares aren’t budging—not surprising, since the merger is done and Nasdaq trading is finished. The last quote for the stock came in at $52.95, just shy of Merck’s $53-per-share cash deal. With Terns now fully absorbed into Merck, its common stock has dropped off the Nasdaq Global Select Market and won’t trade again.
This explains the chart’s flatline—no real movement left. When a cash buyout is nearly a done deal, the shares just shadow the expected payout, with barely any margin for risk or timing. In this case, almost no spread remained after Merck wrapped up its tender offer, leaving leftover shares automatically converted to $53 cash per share.
After investors tendered 100.1 million Terns shares—roughly 86.36% of the company’s outstanding stock as of the May 4 deadline—Merck had the green light to push ahead with the back-end merger without needing another shareholder vote. According to Terns, shares would stop trading ahead of the May 5 opening bell.
No mystery in the price action earlier: Merck’s March deal to buy Terns put $53 a share on the table, pegging Terns’ equity at $6.7 billion, or $5.7 billion after accounting for acquired cash. That’s a 31% lift versus Terns’ 60-day VWAP, and a 42% premium on the 90-day number. So, rather than trading on shifting biotech mood, the stock snapped to the bid.
Merck had its eye on TERN-701, an oral allosteric BCR::ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor. In short, it’s a pill meant to target the cancer-driving BCR::ABL1 protein in chronic myeloid leukemia, but instead of acting on the main active site, it goes after a regulatory pocket. That distinction is key: older drugs lose punch as cancer cells develop resistance after years of use.
Merck got more than just scientific data from Terns. In late April, the FDA awarded Breakthrough Therapy Designation to TERN-701, targeting certain adults with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic-phase CML who’ve tried at least two tyrosine kinase inhibitors and lack the T315I mutation. While this status may accelerate development and review, it doesn’t equate to approval.
This is where bulls get interested. Terns showed promising early results from CARDINAL—75% of evaluable patients hit major molecular response at 24 weeks on the recommended Phase 2 dosing. Major molecular response (MMR) signals a significant reduction in the molecular footprint of leukemia; deep molecular response takes that even further.
Shareholders took cash, not the open-ended upside, because the bear case dominated here. Updated CARDINAL data, reviewed during due diligence, didn’t come off as clean as the initial headline suggested. Merck’s bid, which started at $61, was reportedly cut to $50, then landed at $53. An unnamed rival walked away after reviewing the new numbers, telling BioSpace that TERN-701 lacked enough differentiation or de-risking.
Merck kept its messaging measured. During the acquisition call, research chief Dean Li pointed to internal analysis indicating TERN-701 might deliver “around 2 times MMR” compared to approved TKIs, and “2 to 3 times DMR.” Still, Li emphasized Merck plans to put that potential to the test with a thorough clinical program. Q4 Financials
The market’s verdict was clear. Terns shares weren’t valued as if the company might still reap the full benefit of TERN-701. Instead, investors treated it as a done deal—future gains and any development risks now sit with Merck.
It’s the competitive landscape that’s in focus. TERN-701 is being stacked up primarily against Novartis’ Scemblix—the approved allosteric CML drug—rather than the obesity pipeline that once set the tone for Terns’ narrative. BioPharma Dive pointed out that RBC’s Trung Huynh described the deal as “strategically sound and incrementally positive” for Merck. The modest premium, he added, might have left the door open for rival bidders like AbbVie or Bristol Myers Squibb to make a move before closing. BioPharma Dive
Merck’s picking up the tab—a $5.8 billion R&D charge, working out to around $2.35 per share, linked directly to this asset grab. Add another anticipated $0.12 drag on 2026 EPS, driven by TERN-701 pipeline and the financing behind it. That’s the price for grabbing a late-stage oncology bet that’s still waiting on approval.
For ex-Terns shareholders, the argument over what the market thinks is finished. Bulls saw Merck as a stamp of approval, betting the drug could actually take on standard CML therapy. Bears, though, pointed to a ceiling: $53 was as high as it would go once buyers with the full data weighed in. Both sides have a point. Either way, the stock has served its purpose.
