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news.Merck & Co. has exercised three options under a 2003 amendment to an existing research collaboration and license agreement to use San Diego-based Vical's patented non-viral gene delivery technology in cancer vaccine applications.
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As a result of the option exercise, Vical, a specialist biopharmaceutical developer of DNA delivery technologies, will receive payments of $3 million, and further development may lead to milestone and royalty payments to Vical. In addition, certain co-promotion rights for therapeutic products resulting from the agreement have kicked in.
“Merck was our initial licensee, and a significant contributor toward the validation of Vical’s technology in the infectious disease vaccine field,” said Vijay Samant, Vical’s president and CEO. “We are pleased that Merck’s ongoing preclinical evaluation of this technology supported the decision to exercise three options, and excited that our technology is part of Merck’s cancer vaccine development program.”