Merck Serono, Ablynx expand Nanobodies research patnership

GHENT, BELGIUM: Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, and Ablynx have further expanded their relationship through a multi-year research alliance that could lead to at least four co-discovery and co-development collaborations. Both partners will jointly select disease targets against which this group will develop Nanobodies, up to in vivo proof-of-principle. The dedicated group will focus on the discovery and development of Nanobodies against a number of targets across multiple disease areas. The collaboration will span all of Merck Serono’s core research and development fields, including oncology, immuno-oncology, immunology and neurology.

“This is a very exciting expansion of our partnership with Merck Serono, building on the success of our existing collaborations and allowing us to exploit the broad and powerful applicability of our Nanobody platform with a partner with whom we have successfully worked for over five years. The new alliance is an early stage discovery initiative, which allows the companies to rapidly explore the potential of novel targets across a range of therapeutic areas and to determine which programme should be prioritised for later stage development. It is a very interesting model that could create substantial value for both parties and one which we believe could be applicable for us in other partnerships,” said Dr Edwin Moses, Chairman and CEO, Ablynx.

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