Merck will spend about $11.5 billion to buy Acceleron Pharma and its potential treatment for high blood pressure in vessels that connect the lungs and heart.

Merck will pay $180 per share in cash for Acceleron, the Kenilworth, New Jersey, company said Thursday.

Acceleron is running late-stage studies of a potential treatment, sotatercept, for life-threatening pulmonary arterial hypertension. The ailment causes blood vessels in the lungs to become narrowed, blocked or destroyed. Blood pressure in lung arteries rises and causes the heart to worker harder, which can lead to heart failure.

Merck executives said they hope to launch the drug in either 2024 or 2025, and it has multibillion dollar peak sales potential.