Dragonfly expands deal with Merck for its TriNKet platform

US biotech firm Dragonfly Therapeutics today announced an expansion of its strategic collaboration with Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) to discover, develop and commercialize a number of Dragonfly's candidate natural killer (NK) cell engager immunotherapies for oncology, infectious disease, and immune disorders.

Under the agreement, Dragonfly will grant Merck, through a subsidiary, the option to license exclusive worldwide intellectual property rights to multiple candidates developed using Dragonfly's TriNKet technology platform for a number of new targets. Merck will pay Dragonfly around $47.5 million upfront. In addition, Dragonfly is eligible to receive additional payments associated with development, regulatory and sales milestones as well as potential royalties on sales of approved product.

"Merck is a world leader in drug development across a wide number of therapeutic areas, has a demonstrated history of delivering breakthrough treatment options for patients, and has been a fantastic partner for us over the past several years," said Bill Haney, co-founder and chief executive of Dragonfly Therapeutics, adding: "We're excited to expand our work with Merck beyond cancer into infectious disease and immune disorders, where we believe our novel NK-cell engager therapies may have strong advantages as drug candidates."