Merck Sharp and Dohme partners with Eisai on Lenvima drug development

Merck Sharp and Dohme has announced a new drug development alliance with Eisai, to be  focused on the cancer therapy Lenvima.

The companies have agreed a strategic collaboration for the worldwide co-development and co-commercialisation of the orally available tyrosine kinase inhibitor, which was originally discovered by Eisai.

Under the agreement, Eisai and Merck will jointly develop Lenvima as a monotherapy and in combination with Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda, with Eisai to book Lenvima product sales globally, while both companies will share gross profits equally.

The drug is currently approved in the treatment of thyroid cancer, as well as in combination with everolimus for the treatment of patients with renal cell carcinoma where previous therapy has failed.

Applications for regulatory approval of Lenvima for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma have been submitted in Europe, Japan, the US, China and other countries.

Dr Roger Perlmutter, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said: "Together with Eisai, we aim to maximize the value of Lenvima for its current indications while jointly pursuing additional approvals in combination with Keytruda across a wide range of cancers."

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