Intrexon Corporation XON and Merck KGaA’s MKGAF biopharmaceutical business Merck Serono announced the signing of an exclusive strategic collaboration and license agreement for the development and commercialization of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) cancer therapies.
Terms of the Deal
Per the deal, Intrexon will receive research funding from Merck KGaA for the first two targets of interest selected by the latter. Moreover, Intrexon is eligible to receive up to $826 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestones and tiered royalties on product sales, apart from an upfront payment of $115 million. Intrexon is also entitled to further payments upon achievement of certain technology development milestones.
With this collaboration, Intrexon provides Merck KGaA with exclusive access to its proprietary and complementary suite of technologies, including the RheoSwitch platform. While Merck KGaA will nominate targets for developing CAR-T products, Intrexon will be responsible for all platform- and product development-based activities until the submission of investigational new drug (IND) application.
In this scenario, Intrexon’s partner ZIOPHARM Oncology ZIOP will bear the burden of any additional research and development expenditure. Once the candidates progress to the IND stage, the programs will be transferred to Merck KGaA for further development and commercialization. Merck KGaA will take the lead during the IND filing, pre-IND interaction with regulatory bodies, clinical development and commercialization.
Intrexon and ZIOPHARM will equally share the upfront and milestone payments, royalties and other economic provisions under the former’s collaboration with Merck KGaA.
However, Intrexon retains the right to explore targets independently. ZIOPHARM and Intrexon may conduct research and development on other CAR-T candidates, with Merck KGaA having the opportunity to opt-in during clinical development.
Both Intrexon and partner ZIOPHARM believe that their oncology programs are positioned to benefit hugely from the collaboration with Merck KGaA. Not only should the alliance expedite the development of their synthetic immuno-oncology pipeline, Merck KGaA’s expertise in the field of oncology and market presence should help the commercialization of potential products under the collaboration.
Intrexon carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Another well-ranked stock in the health care sector is Cytokinetics, Inc. CYTK. It carries the same rank as Intrexon.
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