Pharmaceutical company Merck is partnering with biotechnology company Orna Therapeutics to develop treatments in oncology and infectious diseases; Merck will pay $150 million upfront to Orna.
Orna is eligible to receive up to $3.5 billion in the partnership if it hits sales and development goals for the vaccine and therapeutics programs. Merck is also investing $100 million into Orna Therapeutics' latest series B financing round, according to the Aug. 16 press release.
"This broad strategic collaboration brings together Merck's significant expertise in nucleic acid biology, clinical development, and manufacturing with Orna's compelling circular RNA technology to explore the opportunity to develop a new generation of potential vaccines and therapeutics," said Fiona Marshall, PhD, senior vice president and head of discovery, preclinical and translational medicine at Merck Research Laboratories. "We look forward to working with the talented scientific and technical teams at Orna."