MRK - Aligos enters into an agreement with Merck to discover and develop an oligonucleotide therapy for NASH

Aligos Therapeutics (ALGS) entered into an exclusive license and research collaboration agreement with Merck (MRK) to apply Aligos’ oligonucleotide platform technology to discover, research, optimize and develop oligonucleotides directed against a non-alcoholic steatohepatitis target and up to one additional target of interest in the cardiometabolic/fibrosis space. Under the terms of the agreement, Aligos will receive an upfront payment from Merck as well as an additional payment upon designation of a second target for the collaboration.With respect to each collaboration target, Aligos will be eligible for up to $458M in development and commercialization milestones as well as tiered royalties on net sales.Aligos will be primarily responsible for designing, preparing and evaluating the oligonucleotide molecules and delivering optimized lead molecules, and Merck will be responsible for subsequent research, clinical development and commercialization efforts. Source: Press Release

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Aligos enters into an agreement with Merck to discover and develop an oligonucleotide therapy for NASH