With eyes on Keytru­da patent cliff, Mer­ck takes a $290M swing at prostate can­cer

As the megablock­buster Keytru­da is set to lose ex­clu­siv­i­ty in 2028, Mer­ck has been fu­ri­ous­ly try­ing to shore up its pipeline prospects. A new deal an­nounced Wednes­day marks a big step to­ward that goal.

In one of the biggest li­cens­ing deals of the year, the Big Phar­ma com­pa­ny is drop­ping $290 mil­lion up­front to team up with Ori­on on an ex­per­i­men­tal prostate can­cer drug. The pro­gram, known as ODM-208, is an oral in­hibitor of the CYP11A1 en­zyme, which Ori­on says is de­signed to tamp down the steroid hor­mones im­pli­cat­ed in the dis­ease.

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