By Sahil Pandey
Sept 28 (Reuters) – Merck said on Monday it would pay up to $2.13 billion under a global licensing deal with China’s SciBrunch Therapeutics for rights to develop, manufacture and sell an experimental cancer treatment.
The deal underscores Merck’s efforts to broaden its cancer drug pipeline as it prepares for patent expirations on Keytruda, its top-selling immunotherapy, later this decade.
• The deal, which has closed, gives Merck access to SPR2015, an oral drug candidate targeting KRAS G12D, one of the most common cancer-driving mutations found in pancreatic, colorectal and lung cancers.
• SciBrunch will receive an upfront payment of $400 million and is eligible for up to $1.73 billion in potential milestone payments, the companies said.
• Merck said the transaction will result in a pre-tax charge of $400 million, or about 13 cents per share, in its third-quarter 2026 results.
• Scotiabank analyst Louise Chen said Merck has visibility into more than $70 billion in commercial opportunity by the mid-2030s, more than double Wall Street’s estimate of about $33 billion for Keytruda’s peak 2028 revenue.
• SPR2015 is in preclinical development and has not yet entered human testing.
• Preclinical data presented earlier this year showed the drug reduced tumor growth in laboratory and animal models of KRAS G12D-mutant cancers, the companies said.
(Reporting by Sahil Pandey in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Shreya Biswas)
