Merck KGaA has agreed to take a $29.8 million stake in Archemix as the two drug developers expand their collaboration into aptamer-based therapies for cancer. And Merck will buy up more of Archemix's stock in the event of an IPO. They will also partner on autoimmune and inflammatory programs. "Aptamers have the potential to play a key role in the next generation of drugs in our core therapeutic areas," said Bernhard Kirschbaum, a director of research at Merck Serono. Last week, FierceBiotech named Archemix one of this year's Fierce 15 companies.
- see this release for more
- check out the report from Hemscott
ALSO: Archemix also announced today that it will gain a $6 million upfront payment from Takeda to collaborate on new drug candidates for three disease-associated targets. "Our alliance with Takeda is the sixth major partnership we have formed within the past year and is a major step in the continued validation of aptamer therapeutics," said Errol De Souza, Ph.D., president and CEO, Archemix. Release
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