Merck To Receive $700 Mln From Blackstone To Support Development Of Cancer Drug Sac-TMT

(RTTNews) - Merck & Co Inc. (MRK) on Tuesday announced that it has entered into an agreement to receive funds managed by Blackstone Life Sciences for the development of sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT), an investigational antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) currently being studied in 15 Phase 3 trials for multiple cancers, including breast, endometrial, and lung cancers.

Under the terms of the deal, Blackstone will provide $700 million to help fund a portion of sac-TMT's development costs through 2026. In exchange, Blackstone will be eligible for low-to-mid single-digit royalties on net sales of sac-TMT across Merck's marketing territories, contingent upon U.S. regulatory approval for first-line treatment of triple-negative breast cancer based on results from the TroFuse-011 clinical trial.

"This agreement positions Merck to harness the potential of sac-TMT, a promising ADC candidate targeting TROP2, while we continue to advance our broad and expansive pipeline," said Caroline Litchfield, chief financial officer, Merck.

Merck shares closed Monday at $82.49, down 4.06%.