OPKO Health's ModeX Therapeutics licenses vaccine to Merck

ModeX Therapeutics, an OPKO Health (Nasdaq: OPK) company, has entered into an exclusive worldwide license and collaboration agreement with Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) for the development of MDX-2201, ModeX’ pre-clinical nanoparticle vaccine candidate targeting Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).

OPKO shares gained more than 7% to $1.14 following the announcement yesterday, after hitting a high of $1.32 earlier in the session.

“We are delighted to enter this collaboration with Merck to develop a vaccine against EBV, a virus that takes a profound toll on human health worldwide. Targeting four proteins used by EBV to infect cells, this vaccine candidate embodies the novel multitargeting approach developed by ModeX scientists,” said Dr Gary Nabel, president and chief executive of ModeX and Chief Innovation Officer of OPKO.