Merck buys cancer startup

Dallas-based Peloton Therapeutics accepted a buyout offer from Merck for more than $1 billion up front, and as much as $1.2 billion more if regulators approve a cancer drug the startup is developing. Kenilworth, N.J.-based Merck has several existing oncology drugs including the blockbuster Keytruda which generated $1.3 billion in revenue in the first three months of 2019 and which in April the Food and Drug Administration approved in April to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer.