Advanced melanoma collaboration for Amgen and Merck & Co

World leading independent biotech firm Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) and US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) have entered into an agreement to evaluate the safety and efficacy of combination therapy for melanoma. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Under the terms of the collaboration the companies will evaluate Amgen’s talimogene laherparepvec, an investigational oncolytic immunotherapy, combined with Merck’s MK-3475, an investigational anti-PD-1 immunotherapy, in a Phase Ib/II study of patients with mid- to late-stage melanoma.

"Talimogene laherparepvec has shown encouraging Phase 3 clinical results as a monotherapy in patients with metastatic melanoma," said David Chang, vice president of global development at Amgen. "We look forward to working with Merck on this collaboration to evaluate the potential of these two novel immunotherapies to improve clinical outcomes for patients."