The immuno-oncology combination frenzy continues. Merck this morning agreed to pay $394 million for Viralytics, an Australian developer of oncolytic viruses, which could help boost the power of the pharma giant’s cancer immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda).
The deal gives Kenilworth, NJ-based Merck (NYSE: MRK) rights to CVA21 (Cavatak), an experimental oncolytic virus therapy in multiple early- and mid-stage trials of its effectiveness attacking several cancers.
Oncolytic viruses are engineered to get into tumor cells, replicate, and cause them to explode, in the process activating the immune system to destroy any remaining cancer. Viralytics’s therapy, for instance, is an engineered form of Coxsackievirus… Read more »
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