Merck sees potential
Biotechnology group Immutep has signed a deal with US pharmaceutical heavyweight Merck to test the junior Australian company’s cancer drug.
BIOTECHNOLOGY group Immutep has signed a deal with US pharmaceutical heavyweight Merck to test the junior Australian company’s cancer drug.
Merck, fresh from its $500 million takeover of Australian cancer drug start-up Viralytics, has agreed to conduct a clinical trial with Immutep.
It will test the combination of Immutep’s immunotherapy drugs in patients with nonsmall-cell lung cancer, head and neck cancer, or ovarian cancer. Immutep chief executive Marc Voigt said the clinical trial “could lead to more rapid drug development subject to successful outcomes”.
Shares in Immutep, which was previously chaired by Lucy Turnbull – one of its biggest individual investors – surged 8.3 per cent to close at 2.6¢.
The trial will test the combination of Merck’s wellknown Keytruda drug with Immutep’s lead product, Efti.
Immutep also announced yesterday that it had raised $6.85 million by selling new shares to institutional investors and to Ms Turnbull. It has also launched a share purchase plan for existing shareholders.
The funds would be used to support its immune-oncology clinical development programs and its preclinical program in auto-immune disease.