Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. is buying Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $85 per share in cash, which translates to about $10 billion in equity value. Both boards approved the transaction, expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.

Crinetics’ shares (NASDAQ:CRNX) climbed 100%, or $42.31, to $84.34 in after-market trading July 6.

The deal gives Boston-based Vertex an approved drug, Palsonify (paltusotine), which received FDA clearance in September 2025, and more recently the go-ahead from the EMA, as the only once-daily oral therapy for adults with acromegaly, a condition that affects about 20,000 diagnosed people in the U.S. and is caused a pituitary tumor that secretes excess growth hormone. A somatostatin receptor agonist, Palsonify has shown early commercial momentum and strong demand, as well as growing reimbursement coverage, Vertex said.

San Diego-based Crinetics also is advancing atumelnant, a once-daily oral adrenocorticotropic hormone receptor antagonist in phase III development for congenital adrenocorticotropic hyperplasia, a rare, chronic genetic condition affecting the adrenal glands, with 17,000 addressable U.S. patients. It also has potential in Cushing’s syndrome.

According to Vertex, Palsonify and atumelnant at peak “have the potential to deliver more than $5 billion in combined annual revenue.”

Terms of the deal call for Vertex to acquire all outstanding shares of Crinetics for a total equity value of about $10 billion, or $8.8 billion net of estimated cash acquired. Vertex plans to finance the acquisition using a combination of cash on hand and debt in the form of a $4.5 billion bridge financing from Bank of America NA and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc.