Celera, an Applera Corp. business, earned a $2 million clinical milestone payment from Merck & Co. under the two companies cathepsin K inhibitor collaboration agreement.

This payment recognizes Merck's advancement of odanacatib (formerly MK-0822), an orally available highly selective inhibitor of the cathepsin K enzyme, into a Phase III trial as a potential treatment for osteoporosis. Should the candidate or others developed under the cathepsin K pact advance further, Celera will receive additional milestone payments and potentially royalties on sales from Merck.

"We are encouraged by the progress that Merck described recently concerning this promising investigational drug being studied for the treatment of osteoporosis," said Kathy Ordonez, president of Celera. "We're pleased to have made a contribution to Merck's cathepsin K program for this important disease indication."

The multi-year collaboration with Merck was initiated in November 1996 and the two companies extended the research collaboration in December 2001. Celera has provided a series of candidate compounds to support Merck's research programs and Merck has been responsible for further R&D related to collaboration compounds.

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