Merck & Co. Sells its Stake in Moderna as it Coronavirus Vaccine Gets FDA Review

Multi-national pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. has sold its direct equity investment in biotech company Moderna who has been developing a COVID-19 vaccine.

No terms of the sale have been disclosed.

The former sold its investment of the latter in the first half of the fourth quarter according to a statement from the drug maker this week. Merck is also creating its own coronavirus vaccines.

Merck is conducting clinical trials to evaluate two COVID-19 vaccine candidates: V590, being developed through a collaboration with IAVI.

Massachusetts-based Moderna is developing one of the fastest-moving potential coronavirus vaccines. The shot is expected to be reviewed by U.S. regulators in the coming weeks.

Merck was an early investor in Moderna, investing $50 million in 2015 and another $125 million in 2018. Moderna sold shares to the public for the first time in Dec. 2018.

“Merck achieved a substantial gain on its direct holding in MRNA over the life of the investment, particularly in 2020 given the substantial appreciation in MRNA’s stock price,” the drugmaker said in its statement.

Merck still holds an indirect exposure to Moderna through its investment in venture funds, the company said.

The two companies are still working together on developing new cancer therapies.
Not long ago Merck announced that it buying US biotech OncoImmune for at least $425m. The company will pay the money up front with OncoImmune shareholders receiving further undisclosed milestone payments if certain sales and regulatory goals are achieved.

With this acquisition Merck will add a potential new therapy for COVID-19 to its pipeline.
Data was based on findings from 203 patients, around 75% of planned population of the trial, which the privately-owned US biotech said is fully recruited.

The pre-specified interim efficacy and safety analyses were performed when 146 patients achieved clinical recovery from COVID-19. This was a milestone achieved with 203 enrollments.

The trial was opened in April this year and activated in 15 medical centres in the US. Patients involved were those requiring oxygen support as well as those requiring supplement oxygen, high oxygen, and non-invasive ventilation.

They were randomly assigned into two arms receiving either SOC plus a single dose of Saccovid or standard of care plus placebo.

Saccovid is a first-in-class recombinant fusion protein that targets the innate immune system, which had originally been developed for prevention of graft versus host disease (GVHD) following stem cell transplants in patients with leukaemia.

The drug has been studied in GVHD in phase 2 clinical trials, and a pivotal phase 3 clinical trial has already begun in GVHD.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.