NASH drug in hand, Merck forges ahead with 2-year extension of NGM Bio collaboration deal
The past four years of collaborating with NGM Bio has delivered a late-stage NASH drug for Merck, which paid up $20 million to license the drug just weeks ago. A year before the deal is slated to terminate, the pharma giant has decided it wants two more years to see what NGM’s discovery engine could come up with.
Not all of the compounds will eventually make the cut — in fact Merck is shedding an obesity program that failed to impress in Phase I — but the partners have been able to bond over a “mutual commitment to scientific excellence and the pursuit of novel meaningful therapeutics,” said Joe Miletich, Merck’s SVP of preclinical and early development.
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