The announcement sent shares of Daiichi Sankyo (4568.T) up 12% in early trading in Tokyo on Friday, raising expectations for its cancer drug pipeline.
The companies will jointly and potentially commercialise the drug candidates worldwide, except in Japan where Daiichi Sankyo will maintain exclusive rights, they said.
Merck will pay Daiichi Sankyo $4 billion upfront in addition to $1.5 billion in continuation payments over the next two years.
Merck may make additional payments of up to $16.5 billion contingent on future sales milestones, or $5.5 billion for each product.
Daiichi Sankyo has six ADC candidates in its pipeline, including two being jointly developed with AstraZeneca (AZN.L).
Persons:
Andrew Kelly, Drugmaker Merck, patritumab, ifinatamab, raludotatug, Merck, David Dolan, Kanjyik Ghosh, Miyoung Kim, Jamie Freed
Organizations:
Merck & Co, REUTERS, Merck, AstraZeneca, Thomson
Locations:
Kenilworth , New Jersey, U.S, TOKYO, Daiichi, Tokyo, Japan, Bengaluru