Two of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical compan

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Two of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies agreed to pay substantial premiums to acquire smaller cancer-drug makers, underlining the eagerness of the drug giants to add promising treatments to their oncology pipelines.

In separate deals announced Monday, Merck & Co. agreed to buy ArQule Inc., which is developing drugs known as kinase inhibitors, for $2.7 billion, while French drug giant Sanofi agreed to buy Synthorx Inc., a maker of therapies that harness the immune system to fight tumors, for $2.5 billion.

Both proposed transactions come with hefty price tags. In the ArQule deal, Merck will make a tender offer of $20 a share, more than double the smaller company’s closing price Friday. And in its deal for Synthorx, Sanofi agreed to pay nearly three times its target’s market value.

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