Merck KGaA has signed a licensing agreement worth over €1.4bn with Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals for the rights to its next-generation PARP1 inhibitor HRS-1167 outside of China.

The deal also includes an option for an exclusive licence for its Claudin-18.2 antibody drug conjugate (ADC), SHR-A1904.

Compared to first-generation PARP inhibitors, HRS-1167 has higher selectivity and affinity for PARP1 and induces DNA trapping, Merck said, adding that the candidate is currently in phase 1 clinical development and “has the potential to be used as a monotherapy and as part of a combination therapy for treating a wider range of patients”.

Danny Bar-Zohar, global head of research and development and chief medical officer for the Healthcare business of Merck KGaA, said: "This partnership with Hengrui fully aligns with both our external innovation ambition and our oncology research and development strategy by diversifying our robust internal pipeline in our focus areas of DNA damage response inhibition and ADCs.

"The synergies of these assets with our portfolio offer broad potential for development and the opportunity to advance more therapeutic options for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will pay an upfront payment of €160m to Hengrui, which will also receive payments for technology transfer as well as an option exercise for the Claudin-18.2 ADC for up to €90m.

Upon the achievement of certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones, Hengrui is eligible to receive royalty payments on net sales, with potential payments totalling up to €1.4bn.

Frank Jiang, board member and chief strategy officer of Hengrui, said the partnership represented “an important milestone on Hengrui's globalisation journey”.

“We look forward to advancing our molecules rapidly through development and reaching patients in need," he said.

The agreement comes just over a month after Merck announced two new drug discovery collaborations with BenevolentAI and Exscientia to leverage artificial intelligence-driven design and discovery capabilities to accelerate drug discovery. The partnerships are expected to generate several new clinical development drug candidates in key therapeutic areas of oncology, neurology and immunology.

The company also entered into an exclusive licence and strategic research partnership with Aqilion in February to advance small molecule inhibitors of the TAK1 protein, and announced a research collaboration and commercial licence agreement with Mersana Therapeutics in January to discover novel ADCs.

https://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/merck_kgaa_and_hengrui_pharmaceuticals_announce_oncology_partnership_worth_over_1.4bn_1503135