Merck has entered an agreement to acquire ArQule, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on kinase inhibitor discovery and development for cancer and other diseases, for approximately $2.7 billion. ArQule’s lead investigational candidate, ARQ 531, is a novel, oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor currently in Phase II development for the treatment of B-cell malignancies. The transaction is expected to close in 1Q20. BTK inhibition has been shown to prevent B-cell receptor signaling...