Following the promising results generated in the frame of the initial collaboration established between Flamel and Merck Serono in 2007, Merck Serono has made the decision to exercise its option to pursue its partnership with Flamel.
Under the terms of the agreement, Merck Serono will make a payment of E5 million to Flamel for the exercise of this option. Flamel will be eligible to receive further payments based on the achievement of certain R&D milestones. Merck Serono will fund all R&D efforts to be performed at Flamel. Other terms of the licensing agreement were not disclosed.
Stephen Willard, CEO of Flamel, said: The progress we have achieved with Merck Serono thus far has met and exceeded our expectations. Merck Serono has been an excellent partner and we look forward to expanding our work on this program. We believe that our formulations can offer important advantages to patients’ quality of life and demonstrate one of the key strengths of the Medusa platform, its applicability to a wide range of molecules.