Merck & Co. is turning down its option to license Evaxion’s gonorrhea vaccine candidate, closing the door on the Danish biotech’s chance to collect up to $592 million in biobucks.
Evaxion will now hold all rights to EVX-B2, an early-stage asset that the company created using its artificial intelligence platform, according to a Dec. 19 release. Evaxion said it is now seeking another licensing partner for the program.
Last year, Merck paid $3.2 million and offered Evaxion the chance to make more than $1 billion in milestones in exchange for options to EVX-B2 and another preclinical vaccine candidate against an undisclosed infectious agent.
Evaxion CEO Helen Tayton-Martin, Ph.D., said the company remains committed to the EVX-B2 program despite Merck's decision not to exercise its option.
“The data we have generated to date are encouraging and underscore EVX-B2’s potential to be the first approved vaccine for gonorrhea, addressing a major unmet medical need,” Tayton-Martin said in the release.
Merck’s option was for a protein-based version of EVX-B2. Evaxion also touts an mRNA version of the program that the company is developing with partner Afrigen Biologics & Vaccines.
Evaxion did not consider Merck’s potential in-licensing of EVX-B2 in terms of its cash-flow outlook, according to the company.
Just this September, Merck and Evaxion announced an addendum to the 2024 deal, extending the evaluation period for the second vaccine candidate, with a decision on potential licensing now expected in the first half of 2026.
At the same time, Merck expanded upon the pair’s existing relationship by licensing a different one of Evaxion’s AI platform-based vaccines in a deal that also included up to $592 million in biobucks. Merck paid $7.5 million cash for preclinical asset EVX-B3, an upfront payment Evaxion said would stretch its cash runway into the first half of 2027.
The hand-back marks the second pharma walk-away of the day, following news that Boehringer Ingelheim turned down its chance to license Nxera Pharma’s phase 2-ready schizophrenia drug candidate. The two dismissals come amid a flurry of dealmaking that is buoying industry sentiment as it ushers in the new year.