Merck Sharpe and Dohme and Nycomed announce Daxas collaboration

Merck Sharpe and Dohme and Nycomed have agreed a deal to jointly commercialise the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment Daxas in the UK and Europe.

The companies are to ally to promote and distribute the treatment in countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Spain, with Nycomed set to receive upfront and milestone-based payments for its drug.

This comes after Daxas was last week granted a recommendation from the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for approval in the EU.

Kevin Ali, senior vice-president and general manager of the bone, respiratory, immunology and dermatology franchise at Merck Sharpe and Dohme, said the drug represents a “strong strategic fit” for the company.

He added: “This builds upon Merck’s leadership in the asthma and allergy marketplace and positions the company to leverage our well-trained sales force to target the rapidly growing unmet medical need of COPD.”

Earlier this month, Merck Sharpe and Dohme presented data at the European Association for the Study of the Liver in Vienna, which highlighted the developmental progress of hepatitis treatments such as boceprevir and vaniprevir.