Shares of Sweden's Karo Bio skidded 24 percent lower after the company announced that Merck has decided to pull out of a collaboration. Merck discontinued development of a Phase I therapy that targets estrogen receptors--a program that targeted designing new products for women's health. Karo Bio announced that Merck felt the product profile was unsuitable for further development.
"It is unfortunate that the clinical candidate in the joint collaboration with Merck has been discontinued. However, this is part of the drug development process and we are pleased with Merck's commitment to the program and to the fact that the set back is not related to the mechanism of action or the treatment concept," says Per Olof Wallström, president of Karo Bio.
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