Germany-based Merck KGaA and Caris Discovery, the therapeutic research division of Caris Life Sciences, have signed a cancer-based antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) development deal worth up to $1.4bn.
Under the partnership, Merck KGaA, which operates its healthcare business as EMD Serono in the US and Canada, and Caris Life Sciences will discover new cancer targets and accelerate the discovery and development of first-in-class ADCs for cancer patients.
As per the terms of the multi-year agreement, Merck KGaA will give Caris an undisclosed upfront payment along with funding for research.
Additionally, Caris Life Sciences will be entitled to get the discovery, development, regulatory and sales-based milestone payments totalling $1.4bn and tiered royalties.
The German drug maker will also get an exclusive global license to develop, manufacture and market the resulting ADC therapeutics for selected targets.
Caris Discovery finds new, druggable targets using the scale of Caris` core molecular profiling business.
The company aims to identify and validate new therapeutic targets that its biopharma partners can use to develop the next generation of oncology therapies.
Caris Life Sciences’ unit combines its proprietary ADAPT Biotargeting platform, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities suite, and its 59,000ft2 discovery research laboratory.
Caris chief business officer Brian Lamon said: “We are thrilled to join forces with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, to discover targets with the first-in-class potential to advance the next wave of transformational ADC therapeutics.
“This partnership adds to our portfolio of external pipeline programs and is a strong validation of our highly differentiated, orthogonal multi-omics approach to discovering truly novel targets that may be harnessed to eradicate tumours.”
Under the terms of the collaboration, the targets identified and verified by Caris may be assessed by Merck KGaA.
Furthermore, the German company will oversee the preclinical and clinical research, as well as the development and commercialisation of drug candidates resulting from these initiatives.
Merck KGaA healthcare business sector research unit oncology global head Paul Lyne said: “We are dedicated to addressing high unmet needs across multiple cancer types.
“Through close collaboration with Caris, utilising their unique discovery platform, we complement our internal ADC capabilities to develop novel first-in-class ADCs and ultimately strengthen our potential to expand our oncology portfolio.”
