Day One Biopharmaceuticals, Merck sign licensing deal for MEK Inhibitors

Day One Biopharmaceuticals has signed a licensing agreement with Merck to develop and commercialize pimasertib and MSC2015103B, two oral, small molecule allosteric inhibitors of MEK 1/2.

MEK 1/2 is a key enzyme in the MAPK signaling pathway whose dysregulation has been shown to occur in various cancers.

Pimasertib has been evaluated in over 10 phase 1/2 clinical trials in nearly 900 patients with various types of tumor.

Day One Biopharmaceuticals revealed plans to launch a phase 1/2 study to assess its safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy in combination with DAY101, the company’s oral, brain-penetrant, type II pan-RAF kinase inhibitor.

The early-stage trial will be held in patients aged 12 years or more who are having recurrent, progressive, or refractory solid tumors with MAPK pathway aberrations.

Jeremy Bender – CEO of Day One Biopharmaceuticals said: “Day One is purpose-built to accelerate innovative targeted therapies designed to help both children and adults with cancer.

“This license agreement with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, exemplifies our core strategy to identify investigational potential treatment options such as pimasertib and leverage our expertise to rapidly advance them in patients who we believe will benefit the most.”

As per the terms of the licensing deal, Day One Biopharmaceuticals will make an upfront payment to Merck plus additional milestone payments that are regulatory, approval, and sales-based.

Merck will also receive royalties from the California-based clinical-stage biopharma company on potential net sales of pimasertib and MSC2015103B.

The parties did not disclose the specific financial details of their deal.