Merck Serono and Apitope to collaborate on development of peptide therapeutic for MS treatment

Merck Serono has signed an agreement with Apitope Technology (Bristol, UK), a subsidiary of Belgian biopharmaceutical company Apitope International, to develop and commercialise Apitope’s ATX-MS-1467 peptide therapeutic.

ATX-MS-1467 consists of four short peptides derived from myelin basic protein, a key auto-antigen in MS. It has completed an initial clinical study in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and is designed to induce immunological tolerance of the body’s T-cells to key auto-antigens involved in the pathogenesis of MS.

Under the terms of the agreement, Apitope will receive an upfront payment of €154m and initially be responsible for further development of ATX-MS-1467, for which Merck Serono will fund the costs. Merck Serono will be responsible for all development activities from the beginning of Phase II clinical trials. The company will also provide funding to Apitope for research on other novel therapeutic peptides for the treatment of MS.

Bernhard Kirschbaum, executive vice president of r&d at Merck Serono, said: ‘ATX-MS-1467 represents a novel, targeted approach and may have the potential to complement existing MS drugs by offering a novel mode of action. By applying our existing stratified medicine approaches, we will also identify those MS patients who should benefit most from this potential treatment.’