MRK's CEO Richard Clark: "We are actively looking to buy biotechnology companies in the single-digit billions of dollars,but another major takeover of the size of Schering-Plough is off the table right now". The new MRK will generate about $15B in free cash flow. I know the repeated delays are beyond belief but at least K's data is approvable. That really should be the main focus of attention. Big pharma IMO will gladly wait a yr or more and pull the trigger if they believe the risk/reward for approval is very favorable. I believe K easily falls into this category. Again, RDEA's research estimates the US gout mkt is about 6M in size and the EU around 5M in size. 1-2% of that estimated US/EU mkt is a range of approx 110k-220k orphan patients worldwide. If K's pricing power is in the $15-$25k/yr range peak revs will be enormous. If MRK is actively looking for "single-digit billion dollar acquisitions in biotech", I'm sure many other large players are as well. A bidding war for K would be a fitting way to go out given all the grief and loss of capital many of us have experienced.