Merck and Co. has signed an agreement with California-based Infinimmune to develop multiple antibodies for various disease targets, the companies announced Tuesday.
Per deal terms, Merck could load Infinimmune with up to $838 million in upfront and milestone payments if any of the drug candidates make it into clinical testing and onto the market. Neither company disclosed how much was offered as an upfront payment. Merck will hold exclusive rights to develop and commercialize drugs that are discovered through the collaboration.
Infinimmune, headquartered in Alameda, is using artificial intelligence to look through a library of human immune cells and identify potential targets for future drugs, a technology platform it says other companies have tried but failed to advance.
Founded by a group of former 10x Genomics employees, Infinimmune is studying several programs for popular targets such as IL-22 and IL-13, which are implicated in autoimmune conditions such as atopic dermatitis, IgA nephropathy and ulcerative colitis. Its antibodies are designed to “improve on the safety and efficacy” of existing drugs, according to the company.
The biotechnology startup has raised $22 million since launching, said CEO Wyatt McDonnell. Infinimmune and Merck first began discussing a collaboration in December 2024.
“The speed, quality, rigor and capital efficiency of our platform was what really piqued their interest,” McDonnell said in an interview with BioPharma Dive.
Juan Alvarez, who oversees biologics development at Merck Research Laboratories, said in a statement that Infinimmune’s approach offered “a compelling new way to access novel biology and promising therapeutic candidates.”
Merck has invested billions of dollars in M&A, licensing deals and R&D collaborations over the last few years as it braced for the looming loss of exclusivity on its bestselling cancer drugs Keytruda. The New Jersey pharma’s efforts to expand its presence in biologics development include the purchase of bispecific antibody developer Harpoon Therapeutics and a broad alliance with Daiichi Sankyo to make next-generation antibody-drug conjugates.
“It's very validating to see proof of platform in our own pipeline, and also in partner pipelines now,” McDonnell said. In September, Infinimmune announced it had also inked a deal with Immunome, a company run in part by Seagen veterans, to find potential antibody drugs.
