Merck KGaA/ImClone amend 1998 accord

Germany's Merck KGaA and USA-based ImClone Systems entered into agreements amending and supplementing their 1998 development and license accord covering the anticancer drug Erbitux (cetuximab) and certain other work in the field of epidermal growth factor receptor-targeted antibodies.

As part of the deal, ImClone approved Merck's sublicense of certain intellectual property rights surrounding the development and commercialization of an anti-EGFR antibody to Japanese drug major Takeda, which the two companies agreed in September 2005 for the development and commercialization of matuzumab (EMD72000), a humanized EGFR-targeting monoclonal antibody.

The agreements also contain certain reciprocal rights, including the sharing of confidential technical information which gives the companies freedom to operate in the development and commercialization of Merck's matuzumab outside the USA and Canada and of ImClone Systems' IMC-11F8 within those two countries.