Zymeworks due royalties if bispecific antibody comes good

Merck & Co is to advance ZW25, a bispecific antibody drug candidate, into preclinical development that was developed using the Azymetric platform of privately-held Canadian biotech firm Zymeworks.

Under the terms of a wider deal, Zymeworks has granted Merck & Co worldwide, royalty-bearing license to research, develop and commercialize certain bispecific therapeutic candidates toward the US pharma giant’s therapeutic targets. Zymeworks could receive development and commercial milestone payments as well as tiered royalties on product sales.