Merck Completes Acquisition of Themis
June 19 2020 - 8:29AM
Business Wire
Milestone Reflects Merck’s Commitment to
Accelerate SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Program
Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and
Canada, today announced the completion of the acquisition of
Themis, a privately-held company focused on vaccines and
immune-modulation therapies for infectious diseases and cancer. The
U.S. Federal Trade Commission has granted early termination of the
waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements
Act of 1976 and Merck has received merger control clearance from
the Austrian Federal Competition Authority. Themis is now a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck.
An initial focus of this agreement is acceleration of the
development of a measles vector-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate.
This candidate is currently in pre-clinical development, and
clinical studies are planned to start later in 2020.
Themis developed a broad pipeline of vaccine candidates and
immune-modulatory therapies using its innovative measles virus
vector platform based on a vector originally developed by
scientists at the Institut Pasteur, a world-leading European
vaccine research institute, and licensed exclusively to Themis for
select viral indications. In March, Themis joined a consortium
together with the Institut Pasteur and The Center for Vaccine
Research at the University of Pittsburgh, supported by funding from
the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), to
develop a vaccine candidate targeting SARS-CoV-2 for the prevention
of COVID-19.
Measles Vector Platform
The measles vector platform is being evaluated across a wide
range of infectious disease and immunology indications. It uses a
modified measles vaccine virus as a vector and can be engineered to
express a wide range of antigens. The measles vector is designed to
provide a vehicle to deliver antigens to the immune system capable
of triggering a protective memory response. It has been
incorporated into vaccine development programs against infectious
diseases including SARS, Chikungunya, MERS, and Lassa fever.
Originally developed at the Institut Pasteur, the technology
platform was first licensed to Themis in 2010.
Merck’s response to coronavirus (COVID-19)
As a company dedicated to saving and improving lives, Merck
recognizes that we have a special responsibility to help. In
response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Merck is focused on protecting
the safety of its employees and their families, ensuring that our
supply of medicines and vaccines reaches our patients and
customers, contributing our scientific expertise to the development
of antiviral and vaccine approaches, and supporting health care
providers and our communities. We thank the many health care
providers and volunteers, including our own employees, who are
doing so much to help affected patients and communities. To learn
more, please visit www.merck.com/COVID-19.
About Merck
For more than 125 years, Merck, known as MSD outside of the
United States and Canada, has been inventing for life, bringing
forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most
challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save and improve
lives. We demonstrate our commitment to patients and population
health by increasing access to health care through far-reaching
policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck continues to be
at the forefront of research to prevent and treat diseases that
threaten people and animals – including cancer, infectious diseases
such as HIV and Ebola, and emerging animal diseases – as we aspire
to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in
the world. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect
with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statement of Merck & Co., Inc.,
Kenilworth, N.J., USA
This news release of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J.,
USA (the “company”) includes “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are
based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company’s
management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties.
There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline products that
the products will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or
that they will prove to be commercially successful. If underlying
assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize,
actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the
forward-looking statements.
Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general
industry conditions and competition; general economic factors,
including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations;
the impact of the recent global outbreak of novel coronavirus
disease (COVID-19); the impact of pharmaceutical industry
regulation and health care legislation in the United States and
internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment;
technological advances, new products and patents attained by
competitors; challenges inherent in new product development,
including obtaining regulatory approval; the company’s ability to
accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing
difficulties or delays; financial instability of international
economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of
the company’s patents and other protections for innovative
products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent
litigation, and/or regulatory actions.
The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause
results to differ materially from those described in the
forward-looking statements can be found in the company’s 2019
Annual Report on Form 10-K and the company’s other filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at the SEC’s
Internet site (www.sec.gov).
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