Merck Sharp and Dohme agrees takeover of Viralytics

Merck Sharp and Dohme has announced the acquisition of Viralytics, an Australian publicly traded company focused on oncolytic immunotherapy treatments for a range of cancers.

The deal will see Merck gain full rights to Cavatak, an investigational oncolytic immunotherapy based on a proprietary formulation of an oncolytic virus that has been shown to preferentially infect and kill cancer cells.

It is currently being evaluated in multiple phase I and phase II clinical trials, both as an intratumoral and intravenous agent, including in combination with Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda.

Merck and Viralytics expect the transaction to be completed by the second quarter of 2018, with Viralytics to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck after this point.

Dr Roy Baynes, senior vice-president, head of global clinical development and chief medical officer at Merck Research Laboratories, said: "We are eager to further build on Viralytics' science as we continue our efforts to harness the immune system to improve long-term disease control and survival outcomes for people with cancer."

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