Merck & Co And Galapagos sign obesity and diabetes deal
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Merck & Cois to pay Galapagos€1.5 million up-front and up to €170 million in development and regulatory milestones for the rights to license obesity and diabetes drug candidates developed by the Belgian drug discovery company. Merck will have the exclusive option to develop in clinical trials and commercialise candidates discovered in Galapagos's SilenceSelect target discovery platform for identifying novel targets in obesity and diabetes. Galapagos will be responsible for the discovery and pre-clinical development of such treatments and may begin Phase I clinical studies. The company develop and commercialise any compounds for which Merck does not exercise its exclusive option. Merck may also pay sales milestones and royalties upon the commercialisation of any products developed in the agreement.