Date: 2015-01-13
Type of information: Licensing agreement
Compound: mRNA-based treatments and vaccines
Company: Moderna Therapeutics (USA - MA) Merck&Co (USA - NJ)
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Type agreement: licensing collaboration
Action mechanism: Messenger RNA (mRNA). Moderna’s mRNA Therapeutics™ platform builds on the discovery that modified mRNA can direct the body’s cellular machinery to produce nearly any protein of interest, from native proteins to antibodies and other entirely novel protein constructs with therapeutic activity inside and outside of cells.
Disease: four undisclosed viral diseases
Details: * On January 13, 2015, Moderna Therapeutics announced a license and collaboration agreement with Merck&Co for the discovery and development of vaccines and passive immunity treatments against viral diseases using modified messenger RNA (mRNA). Moderna’s work in the collaboration will be led by Valera, its venture focused on the development of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics to fight infectious disease. The vaccines work of Valera builds on a body of preclinical research at Moderna showing the ability of modified mRNA to express viral antigens in vivo and to induce robust immune responses. Valera’s therapeutic passive immunity programs will expand on Moderna’s research using mRNA to express antibodies that bind to viral and other targets. The three-year research collaboration (with the possibility of a one-year extension) is focused on the development of new mRNA-based treatments and vaccines against four undisclosed viruses. Moderna will be eligible for undisclosed per-product development and commercial milestones under the license as well as tiered royalties on commercial sales. Merck will lead the discovery and development of candidates and commercialization of any products resulting from this license and collaboration agreement, while Moderna will design and synthesize the messenger RNA product candidates directed against selected targets.
Financial terms: Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will make an upfront cash payment to Moderna of $50 million to give Merck the ability to utilize the granted licenses to commercialize five product candidates, and will make a $50 million equity investment in Moderna. This is in addition to the $450 million financing from other investors announced on January 5, 2015.
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