Press Release
June 24, 2020

Yumanity Therapeutics Announces $500 Million Strategic Research Collaboration and License Agreement with Merck Focused on Accelerating the Development of New Treatments for Neurodegenerative Diseases

The Life Sciences team advised Yumanity Therapeutics on its strategic research collaboration and license agreement with Merck (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada) focused on accelerating the development of new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will gain exclusive rights to two novel Yumanity pipeline programs for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar dementia (FTLD). Yumanity and Merck will collaborate to advance the two preclinical programs during the research term, after which Merck has the right to continue clinical development and commercialization. 
 
Under the collaboration agreement, Yumanity will receive an upfront payment and is eligible to receive milestone payments totaling approximately $500M associated with the successful development of marketed products for pipeline programs, as well as royalties on net sales. Merck is also joining existing Yumanity investors by participating in a Series C round of financing.
 
Yumanity is transforming drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases. The company is focused on discovering disease-modifying therapies for patients with Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Alzheimer’s disease. Yumanity’s innovative approach to drug discovery and development concentrates on reversing the cellular phenotypes and disease pathologies caused by protein misfolding.
 
The Goodwin team was led by Stuart Cable and included partners Chris Denn, Noelle Dubiansky, Dan Karelitz, Jesse NevarezMark Smith and associates Joshua Eisenson, Timothy Kim, Catherine Magazu and Sarah Stoiber.
 
For more details, read the press release and articles in BioSpace, STAT, and FierceBiotech.