Merck takes aim at superbugs, to buy Cubist in $9.5 bln deal

Dec 8 (Reuters) - Merck (Swiss: MER.SW - news) & Co Inc said on Monday it would buy Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc (NasdaqGS: CBST - news) in a deal valued at $9.5 billion, giving the major drugmaker an entry into the market for drugs that target so-called superbugs.

Merck (Other OTC: MKGAF - news) and British rival AstraZeneca Plc (NYSE: AZN - news) have turned their attention to newer kinds of antibiotics that attack superbugs - strains of bacteria that are resistant to several types of antibiotics - after the 2013 threat report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC estimated that more than 2 million people in the United States are sickened every year by such infections, with at least 23,000 dying as a result. (http://1.usa.gov/1w5Hhml)

Cubist's lead drug, Ceftolozane/Tazobactamis, is widely expected to win marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later this month as a treatment for complicated urinary tract infections.

Merck will pay $102 per share for Cubist, a premium of 37 percent to the Lexington, Massachussetts-based company's closing share price of $74.36 on Friday.

The deal includes assumption of $1.1 billion in debt. (Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)