Merck and Daiichi team up again

Only seven months after buying the bispecific specialist Harpoon for $680m Merck & Co is licensing out the lead asset from the deal, the DLL3-targeting MK-6070. However, this doesn’t seem as sinister as it might first appear: the deal is with Merck’s existing partner Daiichi Sankyo, and the key to the latest tie-up could be ifinatamab deruxtecan, the B7-H3-targeting ADC the companies are jointly developing. Both MK-6070 and ifinatamab deruxtecan are being tested in small-cell lung cancer, and the companies noted today that they would study the assets together in certain SCLC patients, as well as looking at “other potential combinations”. This could provide a clue about MK-6070’s pivotal trial, details of which still haven’t emerged; before the deal, Harpoon promised to start this in 2024. Daiichi is paying Merck $170m up front and the partners will share costs and profits worldwide, except in Japan where Merck will retain rights. DLL3 has seen a resurgence since Amgen’s T-cell engager Imdelltra posted promising results at ESMO last year, and the pipeline has swelled since ApexOnco last carried out this analysis. MK-6070 still looks like one the leading contenders behind Imdelltra, if pivotal development does indeed start soon.

Oncology assets targeting DLL3

Source: OncologyPipeline.