Merck KGaA, Caris enter $1.4B ADC deal

Merck KGaA has entered into a partnership with Caris Life Sciences, a company specializing in artificial intelligence and precision medicine, to accelerate the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for cancer treatment.

Per the deal, Caris will receive an upfront payment and research funding from Merck KGaA. The deal includes potential discovery, development, regulatory, and sales milestone payments to Caris, which may total up to $1.4 billion, in addition to tiered royalties.

In return,  Merck KGaA obtains an exclusive global license to develop, manufacture and commercialize ADC therapeutics for targets identified through this collaboration.

The initiative utilizes Caris Discovery, Caris' therapeutic research arm, employing its proprietary ADAPT Biotargeting platform, a patient tissue repository, AI and machine learning to discover novel targets for ADCs.