Euroscreen S.A. announced today that it has entered into an exclusive world-wide research collaboration and licensing agreement with Merck & Co., Inc., through a subsidiary, to discover and further develop compounds active against an undisclosed target for the potential treatment of unmet medical needs.
Under the terms of the agreement, Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, will be responsible for the development of all compounds and products under the collaboration. In exchange, Euroscreen will receive an upfront payment and additional committed undisclosed research funding over the next two to four years. Euroscreen is also eligible to receive certain pre-specified development milestones, which together with upfront payments could amount to over €100 million and royalties on worldwide sales of any future marketed products that may result from the collaboration.
"We are proud to collaborate with Merck to develop new treatments that may address a number of unmet medical needs," said Jean Combalbert, Ph.D., CEO of Euroscreen. "We believe this collaboration further validates our growing drug development capabilities and better positions us to achieve our longer term growth objects."
For further information, please contact:
Euroscreen S.A.
Tel: +32 71 348 500
email: info(at)euroscreen(dot)com
Jean Combalbert, Ph.D. Al Gray, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer Director, Business Development
About Euroscreen S.A.
Euroscreen S.A. is a Belgium-based, private, Drug Discovery and Development company providing first-in-class small molecule drug candidates for therapeutic areas including hormonal disorders, inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases.
Euroscreen has a drug discovery track-record with multiple innovative and proprietary small-molecules targeting GPCRs.
Euroscreen has advanced its orally-available and highly specific lead program ESN364 into clinical development for the treatment of Women's Health disorders. ESN364 is a proprietary, oral, small molecule discovered and optimized at Euroscreen. This is the first GPCR target antagonist optimized for the purpose of the treatment of Women's Health Disorders. In addition, Euroscreen advances other small molecules (preclinical stage) targeting GPCRs of interest for unmet medical needs.
Euroscreen is backed by leading investors, including Vesalius Biocapital, SRIW and Fortis Private Equity.
Further information about Euroscreen and its drug discovery and development programs can be found online athttp://www.euroscreen.com or by contacting info(at)euroscreen(dot)com.