Oc­cu­pied with im­munol­o­gy and can­cer, Mer­ck KGaA hands off os­teoarthri­tis drug to No­var­tis for €50M cash

By the time Mer­ck KGaA pub­lished promis­ing Phase II da­ta for sprifer­min — once tapped as a big prospect for the ail­ing R&D group — late last year, the Ger­man drug­mak­er made clear it was look­ing for a part­ner to take over its whole os­teoarthri­tis pipeline. While sprifer­min is still sit­ting in the port­fo­lio, it’s man­aged to find a buy­er for an­oth­er drug.

No­var­tis is pay­ing €50 mil­lion up­front to li­cense M6495, a Phase II-ready com­pound that tar­gets an en­zyme known as ADAMTS5, with promis­es of €400 mil­lion in mile­stones.

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