Merck and Synthekine Strike $525 Million Cytokine Therapy Deal

(November 1, 2021) | By Vanessa Doctor, RN.

Merck is widening its reach into the treatment of autoimmune diseases by investing in Synthekine, a bioresearch company that develops engineered cytokine therapeutics.

Under a worldwide collaboration and research agreement, Merck can exclusively take advantage of Synthekine’s surrogate cytokine agonist platform to discover, develop, and sell new cytokine-based treatments for up to two cytokine targets. The companies will first look into potential therapies for autoimmune illnesses but can later go into immunology, oncology, and other indications.