Nicholas Piramal, Merck in new drug discovery JV

MUMBAI: Nicholas Piramal India Ltd and Merck & Co Inc have entered into a research and development agreement to discover new drugs for two selected targets provided by Merck.

Nicholas Piramal will be responsible for carrying out an integrated drug discovery program and Merck will have an option to advance the most promising drug candidates into late stage clinical trials and to commercialize these drug candidates.

The company will be eligible to receive payments associated with progress in the development of drug candidates of up to $175 million per target, plus royalties on sales of any products resulting from the collaboration.

At 11:26 pm, Nicholas Piramal shares were up 6.5 per cent at Rs 309.35 on BSE.