And yet, it is a piece of promising news, just the same -- and immediately confirms Mr. Frazier's optimistic talk yesterday, at Goldman Sachs, in the Apple -- he does seem eager to do small to mid-sized deals, in 2016. We will keep an eye on this one, but Merck hasn't really emphasized the various pain management franchises of late. A strong new market leading discovery/technology though -- would always be of interest to Merck, we are sure. And as a rule, pain meds that are novel and deliver significant improvements over current state of art, usually command very high margins. As I say -- good news.
[With a H/T to my commenters, for the heads up, this morning!] From the keyboard of Damian Garde, then, at FierceBiotech -- a bit -- but do go read it all:
. . . .Under an agreement between the two companies, Merck will pay Quartet $10 million up front and $10 million more later this year for the right to buy into the company's early-stage treatments targeting BH4.
Short for tetrahydrobiopterin, BH4 is a chemical produced by the body after injury. Quartet, looking at years of genetic data, noticed that the roughly 2% of patients born with inherently low BH4 production tend to have fewer problems with chronic pain, and the company has since designed some small-molecule candidates designed to block the chemical and relieve pain and inflammation in the other 98% of the population. . . .
Onward, then, with Merck separately set to announce earnings on February 3, 2016, before the NYSE opens. . . . We warmly greet 2016 with hope, and serenity -- for all that is to come. . . smile. Onward, indeed.
2 comments:
again, I'm sure you saw this but if not~
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/merck-ceo-eager-for-deals-strong-prospects-for-new-drugs/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business
I did... Mentioned it only in passing -- in a later post... Didn't seem very newsworthy, really.
Smile!
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