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(In Nov. 23 story, corrects paragraph 3 to show Themis is anAustrian drugmaker, not Australian)
By Carl O'Donnell
Nov 23 (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc has agreed toacquire drugmaker OncoImmune in a deal that will give it controlof a drug that could help ease symptoms and reduce deaths inpatients with severe or critical cases of COVID-19.
Merck is paying $425 million for the private company, inaddition to extra payments for regulatory milestones and sales.Merck has built out its portfolio of COVID-19 medicines througha series of deals in recent months, including the acquisition ofAustrian drugmaker Themis and a partnership with RidgebackBiotherapeutics LP.
OncoImmune recently announced positive interim data from aphase 3 trial of its leading therapeutic candidate, CD24F, forpatients with severe and critical COVID-19.
The data show that the therapy, which is administered as aninjection, increased the likelihood of symptom improvement inserious COVID-19 cases and also reduced the risk of respiratoryfailure and death, said Roger Perlmutter, who heads research atMerck.
He added that CD24F could potentially complementdexamethasone, a generic steroid that is the current standard ofcare for the most serious COVID-19 cases. The steroid was usedto treat U.S. President Donald Trump for COVID-19 in October.
Merck is aiming to develop the manufacturing capacity neededto produce the therapy at scale, which could take weeks tomonths.
CD24F was originally developed to treat graft versus hostdisease (GVHD) for patients with leukemia who received stem celltransplants. OncoImmune has initiated phase 3 studies for thedrug in GVHD.
Merck is also developing two potential vaccines that arestill in early stages of development and an antiviral treatmentcalled molnupiravir.
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech Inc filed forregulatory authorization of their vaccine candidate on Fridayafter advanced studies show it was highly effective inpreventing COVID-19.
(Reporting by Carl O'Donnell, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)