Ablynx Collaborates With Merck to Develop Therapeutic Nanobody Candidates

Under the terms of the agreement, Merck gains exclusive global rights to Nanobodies against the selected target, with an option for similar rights to a second target. Upon signing, Merck will pay Ablynx a EUR6.5 million upfront payment and a EUR2 million fee for research funding. In addition, Ablynx will be eligible to receive up to EUR448 million in research, regulatory and commercial milestone payments associated with the progress of multiple candidates as well as tiered royalties on any products derived from the collaboration. Ablynx will be responsible for the discovery of Nanobody candidates and Merck will be responsible for the research, development, manufacturing and commercialisation of any Nanobody product resulting from the collaboration.

Dr Edwin Moses, Chairman and CEO of Ablynx said:

"We are delighted to initiate this collaboration with Merck in the area of ion channels where to date monoclonal antibodies have demonstrated little success. Due to the formatting flexibility of Nanobodies, we are able to combine antibody-like selectivity and multi-specificity in one molecule, making them ideal candidates for ion channel modulators. This agreement reflects the potential power of the Nanobody platform and the considerable success we have had to date with seven Nanobody programmes at the clinical development stage."

"We are excited to be working with Ablynx to evaluate the potential of the Nanobody technology directed towards this challenging ion channel target," said Richard Hargreaves, Ph.D., Vice President and Head of Neuroscience Discovery Research at Merck.

About Ablynx' expertise in ion channels

Ablynx has already demonstrated modulation of ion channel activity in electrophysiology assays and has identified functional Nanobodies against both voltage-gated and ligand-gated ion channels. Nanobodies can be generated to have either an agonistic (enhancing) or antagonistic (blocking) effect.