Merck & Co buys Curon candidate for up to $1.3 billion

9 August 2024

US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) is to buy CN201, an investigational clinical-stage bispecific antibody for the treatment of B-cell associated diseases, from privately-held Chinese biotech Curon Biopharmaceutical.

Through a subsidiary, Merck will acquire full global rights to the drug candidate for an upfront payment of $700 million in cash. Curon is also eligible to receive up to $600 million in milestone payments associated with the development and regulatory approval of CN201.

Dean Li, president, Merck Research Laboratories, said: “We continue to identify opportunities to expand and diversify our pipeline.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free.  A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Login to your account

Become a subscriber

 

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now
  • Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
  • Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
  • Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
  • Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
  • Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription
The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK

Companies featured in this story

More ones to watch >


Today's issue

Company Spotlight





More Features in Biotechnology