Investor day prep at Merck includes a new strategy to pick up the pace on M&A

Merck’s recent deals to buy up two bolt-on biotechs — Tilos and Peloton — weren’t an aberration. Instead, both acquisitions mark a new strategy to beef up its dominant cancer drug operations centered on Keytruda while looking to address growing concerns that too many of its eggs are in the one I/O basket for their PD-1 program. And Merck is going after more small- and mid-sized buyouts to calm those fears.