Merck to Acquire Oncolmmune to Gain Promising Corona Drug

Pharma giant Merck announced this week that it plans to acquire Oncolmmune, a private held company, for $425 million in a cash transaction.

The purchase would give Merck rights to an under the radar drug that has shown promising results in COVID-19 patients.

Dubbed CD24Fc, the drug was shown to reduce the risk of respiratory failure or death by more than 50% in patients hospitalized with Covid and requiring oxygen.

In a late stage clinical trial, CD24Fc was given as an intravenous infusion in addition to standard-of-care, which could include remdesivir and dexamethasone, and was compared to standard-of-care alone. The data, in 203 patients, also showed that patients receiving CD24Fc had a 60% higher probability of seeing improved clinical status.

“The results are remarkable,” said Merck’s research chief, Dr. Roger Perlmutter to CNBC.
“We realized that this small little company was in no position to make CD24Fc to try and treat all of the people who could potentially benefit from this drug,” Perlmutter said. “We decided that the only way, seriously, that this could be brought to people who need it is for us to lean in with our capabilities.”

Merck plans to shift some of its manufacturing capacity in order to start making CD24Fc. But it’s a complex medicine to manufacture and it will take time. Perlmutter said.

The research chief is aiming for “before the middle of next year, and ideally much before that,” for there to be ample supply.

“Frankly, nobody would have believed that it would have this kind of effect,” Perlmutter said, when asked why the CD24Fc results had received little attention. “If you look at the other anti-inflammatories that have been studied in very ill Covid-19 patients, it’s been hard to show there’s any effect at all.”

The $425 million deal comes with the potential for additional payments based on certain regulatory milestones.

“Now that we have this terrible, terrible surge in Covid-19 cases, and so many people are hospitalized in severe or critical condition, and so many people in ICUs, tens of thousands, or potentially hundreds of thousands or more just in the United States might need this drug,” Perlmutter said. “We’re going to move heaven and earth to produce the material.”

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