Merck licenses SciBrunch cancer drug in deal worth up to $2.13 billion

Sept 28 — Merck said on Monday it would pay up ​to $2.13 billion under a global licensing deal with China's SciBrunch Therapeutics for rights to develop, ‌manufacture and sell an experimental cancer treatment.

The deal underscores Merck's efforts to ⁠broaden its cancer drug ​pipeline as it prepares ⁠for patent expirations on Keytruda, its top-selling immunotherapy, ‌later this decade.

• ‌The deal, which has closed, gives Merck access ⁠to SPR2015, an oral ⁠drug candidate targeting KRAS G12D, one of the most common cancer-driving mutations found in pancreatic, colorectal and lung cancers.

• SciBrunch will receive an upfront payment of $400 million and is eligible for up to $1.73 ‌billion in potential milestone payments, the ​companies said.

• Merck said the transaction will result in a pre-tax charge of $400 million, or about 13 cents per share, in its third-quarter 2026 results.

• Scotiabank analyst Louise Chen said Merck has visibility into more than $70 billion in commercial opportunity by ​the mid-2030s, more than double Wall Street's estimate of ‌about $33 billion for ‌Keytruda's ⁠peak 2028 revenue.

• SPR2015 is in preclinical development and has not yet entered human testing.

• Preclinical data presented earlier this year showed the drug reduced tumor ‌growth in laboratory and ​animal models of KRAS G12D-mutant ‌cancers, the companies ⁠said.

(Reporting by ​Sahil Pandey in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and ​Shreya Biswas)

Related topics