VIENNA, Austria, April 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Proxygen, a leader in the discovery and development of molecular glue degraders, announced today a multi-year research collaboration and license agreement with Merck & Co Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA, known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada, to jointly identify and develop molecular glue degraders against multiple therapeutic targets.
"We are very excited to announce this collaboration with MSD and look forward to combining our innovative platform technology and unique expertise in identifying novel molecular glue degraders with MSD's world class research and development capabilities. This partnership provides us with the framework and resources to further leverage our platform for the discovery of new drugs against challenging targets," says Bernd Boidol, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Proxygen.
Under the terms of the agreement, Proxygen will receive an upfront payment from MSD and be eligible for future payments of up to $2.55 billion based on the achievement of specified research, development, and commercial milestones across all programs. Additionally, Proxygen is eligible to receive royalties on net sales of any such products.
"Advances in our understanding of molecular glue degraders are opening exciting new avenues in the pursuit of novel therapeutic mechanisms," said Robert M. Garbaccio Ph.D., vice president and head of Discovery Chemistry at MSD. "We look forward to working with the Proxygen team to advance this promising area of research and evaluate new opportunities to treat disease."
About Proxygen
Proxygen is a leader in the discovery and development of molecular glue degraders. Due to the ability of molecular glue degraders to modulate protein classes unamenable to traditional drug discovery approaches, these molecules hold the promise of unlocking a large proportion of the undruggable target space. Proxygen has developed a highly versatile, proprietary discovery engine supporting the specific and unbiased identification of molecular glue degraders against difficult-to-drug or completely undruggable targets at large scale. The company has generated expansive knowledge and data in the discovery and chemical optimization of degrader molecules, positioning it as a pioneer in this novel modality. While advancing its internal programs towards clinical development, the company also maintains various strategic partnerships, including collaborations with Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck KGaA, to co-create synergies along the drug development pipeline.
