Adimab, LLC has entered into a definitive agreement with Merck to transfer its antibody technology to Merck Research Labs for the discovery and optimization of monoclonal and bispecific therapeutic antibody candidates. This technology transfer expands an ongoing collaboration initiated in 2009 that has resulted in several undisclosed therapeutic candidates for Merck.
 
Adimab will transfer and license its antibody discovery and optimization platform to Merck. Merck will receive a custom human antibody library and will obtain a license to the Adimab platform for use in all therapeutic areas and targets. Merck has also secured an option to receive continued improvements to the Adimab platform, including access to new antibody libraries. Adimab will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and preclinical/clinical milestones and royalties on products resulting from the technology.
 
“We are very pleased that Merck will internalize the Adimab technology and apply it more broadly across its R&D programs,” said Tillman Gerngross, chief executive officer and co-founder of Adimab. “To date, we have entered into over 35 partnerships across the biopharmaceutical industry focused on naïve IgG discovery, optimization, bispecifics, rapid B-cell cloning, and other protein engineering applications. Adimab continues to make significant investments in the platform to ensure that our partners have access to the most advanced protein engineering tools in the industry.”
 
“Merck’s long-standing relationship with Adimab has provided important insights into the application of the technology and how it can complement our growing biologics discovery and development capabilities,” said Yuan Xu, senior vice president Biologics and Vaccines, Merck Research Laboratories. “Transferring the Adimab platform into our own labs will allow us to apply the technology and custom human antibody libraries to support our pipeline of therapeutic biologic candidates.”