Merck Serono in up to 134 million-euro deal with Domain Thera for Parkinson's disease drug targets

Strasbourg, France-based Domain Therapeutics this morning announced an exclusive development and licensing agreement with Merck Serono, a division of German drug major Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) to develop metabotropic glutamate receptor 4 (mGluR4) Positive Allosteric Modulator (PAM) drugs targeting Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Domain Therapeutics will contribute optimized compounds that have been developed from its proprietary chemical series. Under the terms of the agreement, the French company will receive 2 million euros ($2.7 million) in upfront payment and research funding, and is eligible for up to 132 million euros ($175.5 million) in milestones for the first two products, as well as undisclosed royalties.

“This agreement is a validation of Domain Therapeutics’ business model of addressing difficult GPCRs and partnering compounds, with a significant deal, at an early stage of development,” said Pascal Neuville, chief executive of Domain, adding: “Merck Serono is known to set very high standards for the compounds it is licensing and this deal is a demonstration of the quality of our work. We anticipate that this agreement will enable us to sign further deals of this kind.”