Merck & Co. Inc. has decided to move forward on its option to license a second drug from Waltham-based Dragonfly Therapeutics. The two have been partners since 2018, when Merck (NYSE: MRK) paid Dragonfly $695 million up front to develop drugs for solid tumor cancers.
Merck licensed the first of the drugs to emerge from that partnership last November. The companies also expanded their collaboration last year, making it a multi-target agreement to develop and commercialize additional drugs for infectious diseases and immune disorders along with cancer.