Merck, NGM Biopharmaceuticals Announce Strategic Alliance

Feb. 23, 2015

NGM Biopharmaceuticals Inc. and Merck have entered into a multi-year collaboration to research, discover, develop and commercialize novel biologic therapies across a variety of therapeutic areas.

Merck will make an upfront payment to NGM of $94 million and will purchase a 15 percent equity stake in NGM for $106 million at a price per share that represents a 20 percent premium to NGM’s most recent financing, a press release said. Merck will commit up to $250 million to fund all of NGM’s efforts under the initial five-year term of the collaboration.

“We are very pleased to establish this alliance with Merck, which will be transformational for NGM, providing us with the resources and flexibility to pursue our ambitious research and development goals while preserving our unique drug discovery culture,” said William J. Rieflin, CEO of NGM. “We look forward to working with Merck to generate a robust pipeline of therapies with the potential to make a significant difference in the lives of patients.”

“NGM has developed a uniquely powerful research program that has permitted identification of novel, and quite consequential, pathways for metabolic regulation,” said Dr. Roger M. Perlmutter, president of Merck Research Laboratories.

The collaboration includes multiple drug candidates currently in preclinical development at NGM, including NP201, which is being evaluated for the treatment of diabetes, obesity and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Read the full release