Mer­ck ax­es two of nine AD­Cs in pact with Kelun-Biotech

Mer­ck has cho­sen not to pick up two pre­clin­i­cal an­ti­body-drug con­ju­gates from its part­ner Sichuan Kelun-Biotech, the Chi­nese drug­mak­er dis­closed Mon­day.

The ter­mi­na­tion does not af­fect three clin­i­cal-stage AD­Cs that the com­pa­nies are de­vel­op­ing, in­clud­ing the Phase III breast and lung can­cer as­set SKB-264/MK-2870, Kelun said. Four oth­er pre­clin­i­cal pro­grams al­so re­main in the deal.

Mer­ck has made mul­ti­ple pacts with Kelun since May 2022, promis­ing as much as $12 bil­lion across three deals for up to nine AD­Cs. With the small pull­back an­nounced Mon­day, Kelun saw its shares dip about 7%.

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