Benzinga | Nov 1, 2021 12:42PM EDT

Merck Dives Further Into Cytokine Research With Synthekine Deal

* Synthekine Inc has entered a worldwide research collaboration and license agreement with Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK).

* The big pharma has agreed to co-develop two new cytokine-based therapies by leveraging Synthekine's proprietary surrogate cytokine agonist platform.

* Although the deal doesn't appear to offer much upfront, the partners didn't disclose Merck's initial payment, and it comes with $525 million in milestones per target.

* Merck will provide research funding to Synthekine for programs under the collaboration.

* The new deal will also focus first on autoimmunity.

* Price Action: MRK shares are down 0.12% at $87.94 during the market session on the last check Monday.