Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Merck Sharpens Late Stage Drug Development Focus -- Shedding Migraine Candidates


Kenilworth will receive $250 million -- and additional revenue, if milestones are met -- from Allergan, the acquirer here.

Per The Wall Street Journal reporting then:

. . . .Allergan PLC said Tuesday that it has reached a deal to buy the exclusive world-wide rights to two of Merck & Co.’s experimental migraine drugs for an upfront payment of $250 million.

Merck could also receive milestone and royalty payments based on commercialization of the two calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonists, which are being developed for treatment and prevention of migraines. . . .


In the event that the candidate(s) clear FDA, Merck will also get a running royalty payment on each sale. But do recall that in 2009, and in 2011, Merck saw a liver toxicity signal in a Phase II trial of one of its other CGRP class candidates, so the future of these two is not entirely clear. Thus far neither of these current two harbor any class effect, thankfully though.

For its part, Allergan may be able to broaden its reach -- and move into larger arenas -- outside of the cosmetic surgery suites, in consumer health care. Onward -- on a cool cloudy but nonetheless cheerful Tuesday.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

With it being such a 'record' allergy season, I was wondering~any insight or information on how well or poorly the Merck allergy pills are doing?

Condor said...

While I don't pay for access to IMS scrip and OTC sales data, my sense is that sales will be robust... Note that climate change may make ragweed season last longer... A new normal, I guess.

All that said, I don't expect the sales increase to move the $43 billion a year needle materially, for Kenilwiryh overall. It is just too... Big.

Namaste, and do stop back!

Anonymous said...

Kenilworth that should read. Ugh. Typos.