NewLink earns $20 million Ebola vaccine milestone from Merck

19 February 2015

US biotech firm NewLink Genetics (Nasdaq: NLNK) says it had received notification from pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) that the milestone event specified in the license and collaboration agreement between the two companies relating to the further development of the rVSV-EBOV (Ebola) vaccine candidate had been achieved.

Under the terms of the deal signed last fall (The Pharma Letter November 24, 2014), NewLink Genetics will receive a payment of $20 million in connection with the achievement of the milestone, which relates to the initiation of a key clinical trial for the vaccine.

Charles Link, chairman, chief executive and chief scientific officer of NewLink, commented: "We hope that the initiation of large scale clinical trials in Africa represent another step forward toward finding a solution for this difficult, global problem. This milestone payment will help us continue our significant investment into vaccines for infectious diseases, including Ebola in collaboration with Merck."

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