Merck To Be Granted Exclusive Rights To NewLink's Ebola Vaccine Candidate

(RTTNews) - Merck (MRK) and NewLink Genetics Corp. (NLNK) announced they have entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement to research, develop, manufacture, and distribute NewLink's investigational rVSV-EBOV (Ebola) vaccine candidate. Merck will be granted the exclusive rights to the rVSV-EBOV vaccine candidate as well as any follow-on products. The vaccine candidate is under an exclusive licensing arrangement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of NewLink Genetics.

Phase I clinical trials of the rVSV-EBOV vaccine are now underway at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.