Merck & Co – known as MSD outside the US and Canada – will be gaining exclusive global rights to Hansoh Pharma’s preclinical GLP-1 candidate in a deal worth over $2bn.
The agreement gives Merck a global licence to develop, manufacture and commercialise the investigational oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, HS-10535.
The company will aim to evaluate the drug and its “potential to provide additional cardiometabolic benefits beyond weight reduction,” according to Dean Li, president of Merck Research Laboratories.
In exchange, Hansoh will receive an upfront payment of $112m and will be eligible for up to $1.9bn in milestone payments, as well as royalties on sales. Hansoh may also co-promote or solely commercialise HS-10535 in China, subject to certain conditions.
Eliza Sun, executive director of the board at Hansoh Pharma, said: “We are pleased to announce the in-licence of our oral GLP-1 by Merck… we see Merck’s expertise and capabilities as key to accelerating the development of this promising asset for patients worldwide.”
GLP-1 receptor agonists are a relatively new class of drugs that can be used to treat type 2 diabetes, promote weight loss and reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. They work by mimicking the hormone GLP-1, which is produced in the small intestine.
Merck’s pipeline already includes efinopegdutide, an investigational GLP-1/glucagon receptor co-agonist that has demonstrated promising results in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a progressive condition in which fat builds up in the liver.
The company shared positive results from a phase 2a open-label study evaluating the candidate against Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 drug semaglutide last year and outlined that the drug has already been granted fast track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration as a potential treatment for patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
Merck’s latest announcement comes just one month after it entered into an exclusive global licensing agreement worth over $3.2bn to advance LaNova Medicines’ investigational PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody. A phase 1 clinical trial of LM-299 in advanced solid tumours is currently enrolling patients in China following promising preclinical results demonstrating strong inhibition of tumour growth and a well tolerated safety profile.