Merck Sharp and Dohme licenses new HIV drugs
25 July 2012 11:37 in Pharmaceutical Company Product News
Merck Sharp and Dohme has announced a pair of new licensing deals for two investigational HIV drug candidates.
The company has signed a deal with Chimerix to obtain rights to CMX157, an investigational oral nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor currently in phase I clinical development.
In a separate agreement, the firm will also be gaining access to Yamasa Corporation's developmental nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor candidate EfdA, which is undergoing preclinical studies and has shown antiviral activity toward highly resistant HIV strains.
This coincides with the announcement that Merck Sharp and Dohme will be progressing its internally developed candidate MK-1439 to the phase II testing stage.
Dr Robin Isaacs, vice-president for infectious disease clinical research at Merck Research Laboratories, said: "Despite the tremendous advances made over the past 20 years, there remains considerable unmet need in the treatment of HIV infection."
Earlier this week, the company reported positive data from a clinical study of its approved HIV treatment Isentress, demonstrating the long-term benefits provided by the drug.
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