GlaxoSmithKline, Merck KGaA End $4B Cancer Drug Pact
- Merck KGaA (OTC: MKGAF) and GlaxoSmithKline Plc (NASDAQ: GSK) have ended their $4 billion collaboration on cancer treatment, bintrafusp alfa.
- Merck said the move was a mutual decision, primarily due to disappointing lung cancer trial data, adding that GSK made no milestone payments and no future milestone obligations remain.
- Merck KGaA said in January that a late-stage lung cancer study testing bintrafusp alfa against Merck & Co Inc's (NYSE: MRK) Keytruda, in a type of lung cancer, was stopped early because the drug was unlikely to show the desired effect.
- GSK did not pay out any milestone payments through the deal and will not do so in the future, either. Merck collected €300 million upfront in 2019 through the pact, with an additional €500 million in milestones and €2.9 billion in sales possible down the line.
- Bintrafusp alfa is bifunctional immunotherapy designed to combine a TGF-β trap with the anti-PD-L1 mechanism in one fusion protein.
- The drug was supposed to control tumor growth by enhancing or restoring anti-tumor responses in the immune system.
- Price Action: GSK stock is up 0.03% at $38.34 during the market session on the last check Thursday.
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