By Colin Kellaher


Merck & Co. and Finland's Orion have agreed to convert a 2022 co-development and co-commercialization agreement into an exclusive global license for Merck.

The companies on Monday said Merck now holds exclusive rights to develop and commercialize opevesostat, in development for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, and other candidates covered by the original agreement.

Merck in 2022 made an upfront payment of $290 million to Orion as part of the agreement to develop and commercialize Orion's investigational opevesostat and other drugs targeting CYP11A1, an enzyme important in steroid production.

The companies said the conversion of the collaboration into a license agreement makes Orion eligible to receive up to $1.63 billion in development, regulatory and sales-based milestone payments, along with royalties on sales.

The move also lets Orion release about $64.5 million of the 2022 upfront payment that the Espoo-based pharmaceutical company had reserved to cover its share of development costs.

Rahway, N.J., drugmaker Merck said it will assume full responsibility for all past and future development and commercialization expenses associated with the candidates covered by the agreement, and that it plans to advance the clinical development program for opevesostat with speed and rigor.

The companies last year initiated a pair of pivotal Phase 3 studies evaluating opevesostat in combination with hormone replacement therapy for certain patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.


Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-01-24 0905ET