Adimab Announces Technology Transfer Agreement with Merck

Adimab announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Merck to transfer Adimab’s antibody technology to Merck Research Laboratories for the discovery and optimization of monoclonal and bispecific therapeutic antibody candidates. According to a Jan. 12, 2016 announcement from Adimab, this expands an ongoing collaboration between the two companies, initiated in 2009, that has yielded several undisclosed therapeutic candidates for Merck.

Under the terms of the agreement, Adimab will transfer and license its proprietary antibody discovery and optimization platform to Merck, enabling broad use by Merck researchers of the Adimab technology. Merck will receive a custom human antibody library and will obtain a license to the Adimab platform for use in all therapeutic areas and all targets. Merck has also secured an option to receive continued improvements to the Adimab platform, including access to new antibody libraries. Adimab will receive an undisclosed upfront signing fee, future payments upon achievement of specified preclinical and clinical milestones, and royalties on any therapeutic products resulting from use of the technology.

In addition to Merck, the Adimab antibody discovery and optimization platform and custom antibody libraries have been transferred to Novo Nordisk, Biogen, and GSK for internal use.