Merck Is Paying $588M for Potential Successor to Cancer Drug Juggernaut Keytruda
MedCity News November 14, 2024
Merck is acquiring global rights to a bispecific antibody from LaNova Medicines that blocks two cancer targets, PD-1 and VEGF. The deal comes one day after BioNTech announced an $800 million acquisition that gives it full rights to a molecule in this hot class of cancer drug candidates.
Cancer drug dealmaking is heating up around promising candidates with the potential to top Merck by going after two targets versus the one addressed by the pharmaceutical giant’s blockbuster immunotherapy, Keytruda. Now Merck is joining in with a $588 million deal of its own.
The agreement announced Thursday gives Merck global rights to LM-299, which has reached early clinical development under privately held LaNova Medicines. The Shanghai-based biotech could receive up to...