Aralez acquires US and Canadian rights to blood-thinning drug from Merck & Co

7 September 2016

Canadian drugmaker Aralez Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARLZ) has acquired the US and Canadian rights to US pharma giant Merck & Co’s (NYSE: MRK) blood-thinning drug Zontivity (vorapaxar).

Zontivity is the first and only approved therapy shown to inhibit protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR-1), the primary receptor for thrombin, which is considered to be the most potent activator of platelets.

Earlier this month, Merck announced it would be stopping promotion of the drug, which at one point was forecast to bring in $5 billion worth of sales, following the emergence of serious bleeding risks.

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