Selvita and Merck announce drug discovery cooperation

WSE-listed Polish biotechnological firm Selvita and German pharmaceutical company Merkc have signed a three-year contract aimed at validating new therapeutic concepts in the field of oncology, a press release read. The deal is valued at PLN 18.8 million. The aim of the collaboration is to deliver potential first-in-class small molecules as lead candidate drugs for multiple oncology indications. Both companies will contribute funding and resources to support the collaboration, as well as bring their expertise in target validation, bioinformatics, medicinal chemistry, in vitro and in vivo biology, and toxicology. Under the terms of the new agreement, Merck will have an exclusive license to the joint intellectual property and Selvita will receive milestone payments and royalties upon successful development and commercialization of products by Merck. The collaboration consists of a joint research phase up to lead identification, after which Merck will further research and develop the projects on its own. In 2014, Merck generated sales of €11.3 billion in 66 countries. It was funded in 17th century, hence it's the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company.