Merck and Daiichi Sankyo announced a global development and commercialisation collaboration involving Daiichi’s three deruxtecan antibody-drug conjugate candidates: patritumab deruxtecan, ifinatamab deruxtecan and raludotatug deruxtecan. The companies will jointly develop and commercialise the candidates around the world, except for Japan, where Daiichi retains exclusive commercialisation rights. Daiichi is solely responsible for manufacture and supply.
Merck will pay Daiichi a US$4B upfront payment and US$1.5B in continuation payments over the next 24 months. Contingent on Daiichi meeting future milestones, Merck may make additional payments of up to US$16.5B, reaching a total potential consideration of up to US$22B.
On 18 October 2023, the EC approved AstraZeneca/Daiichi’s (trastuzumab deruxtecan) for a new indication as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.