Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Xencor In Licensing Deal With Merck

Monrovia-based Xencor announced today that it is in a technology license and option agreement with biotech giant Merck. Xencor said that the deal provides Merck with access to one of its patents for therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. Xencor said the non-exclusive license will provide Xencor with an upfront payment and annual maintenance fees, along with milestone payments associated with the successful development of Merck product candidates, and royalties on sales. Financial terms of that deal were not announced. Xencor is developing antibody technology which it has widely licensed to companies such as Amgen, Pfizer, Janssen R&D LLC, MorphoSys, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Ltd. and Human Genome Sciences. The firm is led by Bassil Dahiyat.

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