The deal will boost Merck's ability to further develop a range of drug candidates for autoimmune diseases, it said. It will make the purchase through one of its subsidiaries.

Pandion is developing immune modulators that target immune system control nodes, according to Merck. The company's lead candidate is PT101, an engineered interleukin-2 (IL-2) mutein (protein with an altered amino acid sequence) fused to a protein backbone that activates regulatory T cells for the treatment of autoimmune diseases; Pandion has completed a phase IA clinical trial for the drug.

Pandion's pipeline also includes programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) agonists in development for several autoimmune diseases.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of this year.

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