Merck KGaA and Telix Partner on Pan-Cancer Clinical Combination Studies

On Aug. 18, 2021, Telix Pharmaceuticals, an Australian-based radiopharmaceutical company, announced a collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, to conduct clinical combination studies for cancer treatment. The studies will combine one of Merck’s investigational proprietary DNA damage response inhibitor (DDRi) molecules with each of Telix’s molecularly targeted radiation (MTR) therapeutic programs—TLX591 (177Lu-rosopatamab) and TLX250 (177Lu-girentuximab). This collaboration builds on a strategic research collaboration agreement the two companies began in August 2019.

TLX591 and TLX250 are late-stage products in development for prostate and renal cancer therapy, respectively. Under the collaboration and based on encouraging pre-clinical data from their initial research partnership, the two companies have agreed to investigate the synergy of these product assets with Merck’s DDRi compound across a wide variety of oncology indications in the clinic.

“This collaboration represents the vanguard of nuclear medicine and oncology, and we are excited by the level of new data and intellectual property already generated, which is highly supportive of clinical translation. Pre-clinical studies provide evidence that the combined effect of Merck’s DDRi compound with Telix’s MTR candidates has potential to significantly impact cancer by improving efficacy and reducing the required radiation dose for tumor reduction and remission, compared to MTR only,” said Christian Behrenbruch, CEO, Telix, in a company press release.