Merck — the North Jersey-centric big pharma firm with significant Montco outposts in West Point and Lansdale — has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire Imago Biosciences of Redwood City, Calif., southwest of San Francisco. John George provided the details of the intended $1.35 billion transaction in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The acquisition is designed to bolster Merck’s work in fighting bone marrow diseases, including cancer, by incorporating Imago’s developmental solutions.

Shareholders are in line for a $36 purchase price payoff for their stocks; the premium is 107 percent above the mid-Nov. value of $17.40 but aligned competitively with the $35.57 valuation a few days later.

“We continue to invest in our pipeline,” said Merck CEO Robert M. Davis said in a statement. “This acquisition of Imago augments our pipeline and strengthens our presence in the growing field of hematology.”

Imago has made inroads in fighting bone marrow diseases that include:

• Essential thrombocythemia, a disorder where a body produces an overabundance of platelets
• Myelofibrosis, an uncommon bone marrow cancer that disrupts the body’s normal production of blood cells
• Polycythemia vera, a type of blood cancer that causes bone marrow to make too many red blood cells

Further information on Merck’s acquisition of Imago Biosciences is at the Philadelphia Business Journal.