LONDON — The Danish company Genmab said Monday it planned to buy Merus, the maker of a promising head and neck cancer drug, in a deal worth roughly $8 billion.

Genmab will pay $97 per share in cash for Merus, a 41% premium over the latter’s closing price on Friday.

Merus reported in May that its experimental drug petosemtamab, when used with the checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda, showed a preliminary survival benefit in a Phase 2 trial in patients with metastatic head and neck cancer. The Dutch biotech has been enrolling patients in Phase 3 trials that could prove the drug’s efficacy.

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