MSD buys Themis as part of COVID-19 plans

Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) is pushing forward with three initiatives aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic, including the acquisition of vaccine company Themis Bioscience.

Earlier this week, MSD (which is known as Merck in the US and Canada)  announced plans to buy Themis Bioscience, a company focused on vaccines and immune-modulation therapies for infectious diseases.

“The acquisition builds upon an ongoing collaboration between the two companies to develop vaccine candidates using the measles virus vector platform, and is expected to accelerate the development of Themis’ COVID-19 vaccine candidate,” said a release from MSD.

While the vaccine candidate is currently in preclinical development, clinical studies are planned to start later in 2020.

MSD is also  partnering with IAVI—a nonprofit scientific research organisation dedicated to addressing urgent, unmet global health challenges—to develop a vaccine.

This vaccine candidate will use recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus technology, which is the basis for MSD’s Ebola Zaire virus vaccine Ervebo.

Thirdly, MSD is  collaborating with biotech company Ridgeback Bio to advance development of an oral antiviral candidate for COVID-19. EIDD-2801 is currently in early clinical development.

Under the agreement, MSD, through a subsidiary, will gain exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialise EIDD-2801 and related molecules.

Kenneth Frazier, chairman and CEO of MSD,  said: “With our singular legacy and expertise in vaccines and anti-infective medicines, we know Merck has a responsibility to engage in the scientific community’s efforts to find new medicines and vaccines to bring this pandemic to an end.”

He added that the company intends to make any vaccine or medicine it develops for this pandemic “broadly accessible and affordable globally”.

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