NGM Biopharma rises on amended drug development pact with Merck

NGM Biopharmaceuticals

01/07/2021 18:55

** Shares of drug developer  NGM.O  up ~8% to $21.2
    ** Co says it extended ongoing pact with Merck & Co  MRK.N 
through March 2024 but with a narrower scope; under amended
pact, MRK will give NGM about $120 mln in research funding
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGNX1ghDWP
    ** In 2015, NGM and MRK entered a multi-year drug discovery
and development pact, with MRK agreeing to make an upfront
payment to NGM of $94 mln and purchasing a 15% stake in NGM for
$106 mln https://bit.ly/2TqY0GP
    ** NGM says collaboration will now focus mainly on the
development of novel medicines for unmet patient needs in
retinal, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, including heart
failure 
    ** Merck retains an option to license the programs being
advanced under the amended pact, and NGM gains worldwide rights
to its cancer portfolio and assets falling outside of pact's
scope 
    ** Brokerage B. Riley Securities says the extension of this
collaboration provides incremental validation for NGM's robust
drug discovery capabilities in the form of continued capital
stream and enables NGM to retain all rights to a budding
oncology portfolio
    ** Up to Wednesday's close, NGM down ~35% YTD

 (Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru)
 ((manojna.kalyani@thomsonreuters.com; within the U.S. +1 646
223 8780, outside the U.S. +91  80 6749 1692))