Merck buzzes Dragonfly for 2nd immunotherapy candidate in $700M pact
- Nov 24, 2021
- 1 min read
Updated: Aug 30, 2022
The dragon is flying high today as Merck hits go on a second immunotherapy candidate from its $700 million pact with Dragonfly Therapeutics. The Big Pharma's buy-in comes just a month after Bristol Myers Squibb licensed its sixth drug from the biotech.
Merck teamed up with Dragonfly for $695 million per program in an October 2018 pact targeting multiple solid tumors. The New Jersey pharma opted into the first TriNKET candidate last November, and the two expanded the collaboration to include infectious diseases and immune disorders on top of the original oncology tie-up.
The partnership revolves around the Massachusetts biotech's TriNKET, or Tri-specific, natural killer (NK) cell engager therapeutics. Essentially, the tech binds to surface proteins expressed on cancer and NK cells.
In disclosing the news Tuesday, Dragonfly's CEO Bill Haney copied and pasted his statement about the collaboration from last year's initial opt-in, noting Merck is a "powerful world leader in drug development" and the biotech is "delighted" the pharma wants to continue with them.
BMS is also happy to keep its partnership with the biotech alive. The Big Pharma signed up for its sixth drug in its own collaboration with Dragonfly last month.
That partnership, originally inked in 2017, has evolved to include hematology malignancies, oncology and neuroinflammation. The TriNKET immunotherapy platform comprises five of the six licensed drugs with the New York Big Pharma.
This is truly exciting news for the future of cancer treatment — watching Dragonfly Therapeutics' TriNKET platform gain back-to-back validation from industry giants like Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb in such a short span is a strong signal that NK cell engager technology is maturing fast. The fact that Merck opted into a second candidate under their $700M collaboration speaks volumes about the real-world confidence big pharma is placing in this science, and it's a great reminder that breakthrough therapies often come from focused biotech innovation rather than giant labs alone. For those of us studying life sciences or pharmaceutical sciences, stories like this are genuinely motivating — and it's why resources like assignment help for UK students can be…
I really enjoyed reading about Merck’s recent involvement with Dragonfly it was interesting to see how collaborations like this bring new energy and possibilities to the space. The way the article explains what’s happening makes it feel easy to follow even if you’re not familiar with all the details, which I appreciate. It’s encouraging to see established companies working with innovative teams because it shows how big ideas can grow when people work together. For students or anyone using online assignment help, this post gives a good real-world example of partnership and strategic collaboration that could be helpful when writing papers about business, innovation, or industry relationships. Posts like this make complex topics feel more accessible and relevant.
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