Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Merck Follows Four Other Majors -- In Striking Ion Channel Deal With Ablynx


This specific ion channel deal with Merck & Co. could be (with milestone related optional payments) worth up to about $580 million -- or 448 million euros to Ablynx. Merck now joins a crowded field betting on this particular iteration of nanobody tech, as a vehicle for for future drug delivery approaches. Even the oft-confused European Merck (called Serono) has a prior deal with Ablynx. Here's a bit; do go read it all

. . . .The Ghent-based biotechnology company, which listed on Euronext Brussels in November 2007, said that upon signing of the agreement it would receive a 6.5 million euro initial payment and a 2 million euro fee for research funding. Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, will gain exclusive rights to nanobodies directed towards a voltage-gated ion channel with the option to develop a nanobody to a second target. . . .
Whether this approach fails or flies, Whitehouse Station cannot afford to be on the sidelines here -- with all the other major players placing bets at this Roulette Wheel. We will keep you posted.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry if this duplicates:
I wonder. This reminds me of the old days when everyone (e.g., Schering-Plough) jumped on the bandwagon for drug screening library/paradigm of combinatorial chemistry provided by Pharmacopeia.
Or even more recently, the whole siRNA non-event.

Often this is just hype to drive the stock.

Anonymous said...

I agree with thrle post above completely. Condor's analysis that Merck cannot stay away from this roulette game also says as much and is, indeed, quite right.

It's a sad state of pharma when the first thought is to goose the stock price while the secondary hope is the technology will improve the lives of patients.