I guess Merck is buying us... ha. BREAKING: Merck makes a triple play on Covid-19: buying out a vaccine biotech, partnering on another program and adding an antiviral to the mix
John Carroll
Editor & Founder
Merck is making a triple play in a sudden leap into the R&D campaign against Covid-19.
Tuesday morning the pharma giant simultaneously announced plans to buy an Austrian biotech that has been working on a preclinical vaccine candidate, added a collaboration on another vaccine with the nonprofit IAVI and inked a deal with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics on an early-stage antiviral.
The deal with IAVI covers recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) technology that is the basis for Merck’s successful Ebola Zaire virus vaccine. That’s going into the clinic later this year.
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The pharma giant also announced this morning that it is snapping up the Vienna-based Themis for an undisclosed sum, picking up a vaccine that’s been based on discovery work at the Institute Pasteur. And Merck is getting much more, adding a pipeline that includes a late-stage jab for Chikungunya.
The news pushed up Merck’s shares $MRK by 3.2%, the latest example of how any kind of positive advance on the Covid-19 front is rewarded by investors who have no idea how this will all shake out commercially.
Building on an earlier vaccine collaboration using a measles virus vector for delivery, Merck now says they’ll also be ready to jump into the clinic with their Covid-19 vaccine later this year.
Merck has been a low key player in the Covid-19 campaign up until now. But the major league player seems prepared to go all-in alongside other big players like Pfizer and AstraZeneca. The moves by Merck underscore the massive demand likely for any vaccine that makes it through the R&D gamut, as billions of people look for immunity. Even as companies like Moderna and CanSino angle for the lead in the clinical race, it will take several successful vaccines to cover the world — leaving Merck a shot at a place in a select group of companies.
The antiviral front, meanwhile, has consumed the attention of its own growing set of players, with everyone looking to improve on Gilead’s modest impact with remdesivir.
Merck R&D chief Roger Perlmutter laid out the company’s vaccine strategy in a prepared statement:
“Building on the pioneering work of the Institut Pasteur, the Themis team has established specialized expertise that complements MSD’s own capabilities in the discovery, development, manufacturing and global distribution of vaccines. We are eager to combine our strengths both to develop an effective COVID-19 vaccine in the near term and to build a pandemic preparedness capability directed toward emerging agents that pose a future epidemic threat.”
And the R&D chef had high praise for Ridgeback’s antiviral work as well.
“Clinical evaluation of EIDD-2801 in COVID-19 patients is just beginning, now that phase 1 studies have demonstrated that the compound is well-tolerated. Since preclinical studies demonstrate that EIDD-2801 has potent antiviral properties against multiple coronavirus strains including SARS-CoV-2, we are eager to advance the next phase of clinical studies as rapidly and responsibly as possible.”