Merck & Co in Nanobody deal with Ablynx; J&J and Astellas join forces on RA

US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) has entered into a collaboration with Belgium’s Ablynx (Euronext Brussels: ABLX) directed towards a voltage gated ion channel with the option to develop and commercialize a Nanobody to a second target.

Under the terms of the deal, Merck gains exclusive global rights to Nanobodies against the selected target, with an option for similar rights to a second target. Upon signing, Merck will make a 6.5 million-euro ($8.4 million) upfront payment to Ablynx and a 2 million-euro fee for research funding. In addition, Ablynx will be eligible to receive up to 448 million euros in research, regulatory and commercial milestone payments associated with the progress of multiple candidates as well as tiered royalties on any products derived from the collaboration. Ablynx will be responsible for the discovery of Nanobody candidates and Merck for the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of any Nanobody product resulting from the collaboration.

Edwin Moses, chairman and chief executive of Ablynx said: “We are delighted to initiate this collaboration with Merck in the area of ion channels where to date monoclonal antibodies have demonstrated little success. Due to the formatting flexibility of Nanobodies, we are able to combine antibody-like selectivity and multi-specificity in one molecule, making them ideal candidates for ion channel modulators. This agreement reflects the potential power of the Nanobody platform and the considerable success we have had to date with seven Nanobody programs at the clinical development stage.”