BioXell Enters License Agreement with Merck & Co., Inc. for TREM-1 Product Candidate and TREM Platform
The Italian biopharmaceutical company BioXell SpA announced that it has signed an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Merck & Co., Inc. for development of TREM related therapeutic and diagnostic products. Under the agreement, Merck obtains exclusive rights to develop BioXell's initial product candidate directed to TREM-1 currently in preclinical development, and other candidates directed to the TREM-1 target. Merck and BioXell will also collaborate on the further research of other TREM receptors.
Under the terms of the agreement, BioXell will receive an up-front payment and, in addition, BioXell could receive as much as $150 million in milestone payments, including $55.5 million for the successful development of the first product for the first indication, and additional milestone payments for further development of the first candidate and follow-on product candidates in subsequent indications. BioXell also has rights to royalties on future product sales, upon completion of all required clinical trials and product approvals. Merck will be responsible for clinical development and commercialization of products worldwide.
TREM, an acronym for Triggering Receptors Expressed on Myeloid Cells, is a novel class of receptors that have been implicated in many diseases. TREM-1 is believed to play a key role in sepsis. Other aspects of the TREM platform show promise in several other indications.
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