Merck Sharp and Dohme reaches first milestone in Ablynx collaboration

Merck Sharp and Dohme has paid a milestone fee after reaching a key objective in its immuno-oncology collaboration with Ablynx.

A 3.5 million euro (2.57 million pounds) milestone payment was triggered after Ablynx reached preclinical proof-of-concept stage with a Nanobody construct as part of its work with Merck.

The Nanobody construct in question is a selective bispecific molecule that binds to two different immune modulators, proteins believed to be targets for the development of important cancer immunotherapies.

In a preclinical study conducted with relevant tumour models, it was demonstrated that the bispecific Nanobody construct is able to potently inhibit tumour growth.

Dr Edwin Moses, chief executive officer of Ablynx, said: "We look forward to further advancing programmes within this collaboration to potentially develop drugs that could transform the treatment of many cancers and the lives of patients."

The collaboration pertains to the discovery and development of up to 17 Nanobody programmes against individual protein targets and target combinations – including mono-specific and multi-specific Nanobodies – for immuno-oncology applications.