Merus has granted Simcere Pharmaceutical Group an exclusive license to develop and commercialize three bispecific antibodies in China using Merus’ Biclonics technology platform in the area of immuno-oncology. Merus will retain all rights outside of China. 

Merus will lead research and discovery activities and Simcere will be responsible for the Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies, clinical development, regulatory filings and commercialization of these products in China. Also, Simcere will be responsible for IND enabling studies and manufacturing of clinical trial materials in China, which Merus intends to use to assist regulatory filing and early stage clinical development in the rest of the world.

Merus will be eligible to receive upfront and milestone payments based on specified development and commercial goals. Merus will be eligible to receive royalties on sales of any products resulting from the collaboration in China and Simcere will be eligible to receive royalties on sales outside of China.

“We believe this collaboration leverages Merus’ unique platform and Biclonics suite of technologies with Simcere’s drug development experience and strong commercial presence in China,” said Ton Logtenberg, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Merus.  “For Merus, this represents an important step towards becoming a commercial-stage company with a strong pipeline of differentiated bispecific antibodies in immuno-oncology. There is a clear strategic fit between the two companies and we believe that by combining our collective expertise and resources, we will be able to develop innovative therapeutics in the China market and globally.”

“We are very excited about the collaboration with Merus,” said Mr. Jinsheng Ren, chairman and chief executive officer of Simcere. “Simcere is committed to developing innovative therapeutics for the Chinese market. This collaboration provides Simcere access to Merus’ leading bispecific antibody platform and has the potential to introduce multiple first-in-class immuno-oncology therapeutics in the Chinese market. The opportunity allows us to leverage our capability, expertise and investment in China to support the development of innovative bispecific antibodies in the global markets.”