Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Merck & Co., Inc. have announced that they have entered into a multi-year research collaboration to discover novel oral drugs for the treatment of viral infections.
Sunesis will provide Merck with a series of small molecule compounds targeting viral infections. These compounds were derived from TetheringSM, Sunesis' proprietary fragment-based drug discovery platform. Merck will be responsible for advancing these compounds into lead optimization, preclinical development, and clinical studies. Merck will pay annual license fees for ongoing access to Sunesis' core technology as a means of identifying additional compounds for the treatment of viral infections.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sunesis will receive an upfront payment, annual license fees and payments based on the achievement of development milestones. In addition, Sunesis will receive royalty payments based on net sales for products resulting from the collaboration. Merck receives an exclusive worldwide license to any products resulting from the collaboration.
This is the second collaboration between the two companies. A previous collaboration to discover new small molecule medicines for Alzheimer's disease was signed in February 2003.