Merck & Co buys Australian I-O firm Viralytics for $394 million

21 February 2018

Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) has agreed to buy the Australian firm Viralytics Limited (ASX: VLA) for A$1.75 per share, valuing the firm at just over half a billion Australian dollars ($394 million).

The Sydney-headquartered firm, which is focused on oncolytic immunotherapy treatments for a range of cancers, is developing Cavatak (CVA21), an investigational therapy based on a proprietary formulation of an oncolytic virus.

The candidate is currently being evaluated in multiple Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, both as an intratumoural and intravenous agent, including in combination with Merck’s flagship I-O therapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab).

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