Business Wire

Nerviano Medical Sciences S.r.l. Announces Collaboration and Option to License Agreement with Merck

Share

Nerviano Medical Sciences S.r.l. (NMS), a member of the NMS Group and a clinical stage company discovering and developing innovative therapies for the treatment of cancer, announced today the signing of a collaboration agreement with licensing option with Merck Healthcare KGaA (Merck), for the next-generation highly selective and brain penetrant PARP1 inhibitor NMS-293.

PARP (poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase) is key in the repair of DNA damage and PARP inhibitors have been shown to be highly efficacious in the treatment of tumors deficient in homologous recombination repair, such as breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers which are BRCA mutated.

NMS-293 is an orally available PARP1 inhibitor, designed to be more PARP1 selective and brain penetrant compared to first generation PARP inhibitors. With its expected lower hematological side effect profile, it has the expected features for potential use not only as single agent but also in combination with DNA-damage accumulating agents in a wide range of tumors. NMS-293 is currently in early clinical development for the treatment of patients with BRCA mutated tumors as single agent and with recurrent Glioblastoma (GBM), a brain tumor with very high medical need, in combination with temozolomide (TMZ).

Under the current agreement, Merck will make early payments (up-front and option exercise fees) of up to US$65 million to NMS. Furthermore, NMS will receive payments for the achievement of certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones and tiered royalties on net sales by Merck. Upon exercise of the option, NMS will grant to Merck the exclusive rights to research, develop, manufacture, and commercialize NMS-293.

“NMS-293 is the first next-generation PARP1 inhibitor to enter clinical trials. Based on its unique features, NMS-293 has strong potential in combination with a wide variety of DNA-damage accumulating agents, such as chemotherapy, DNA repair inhibitors or ADCs, in tumor settings that are precluded to current PARP inhibitors, such as brain tumors, and where there is an urgent global need to find treatments,” stated Hugues Dolgos, Pharm.D., chief executive officer of NMS and NMS Group. “NMS has built a unique and proprietary platform of first-in-class and best-in-class assets and expanded to new target classes like PARP with NMS-293 as our flagship. We believe that Merck, a global leader in DNA repair with a well-established commercialization footprint, is the ideal partner to maximize the value of our program.”

Building on the therapeutic impact that PARP inhibitors have had over the last several years, we believe this new PARP1 program, if successful, could fill a significant unmet need for patients unresponsive to existing PARP inhibitors with an improved hematological adverse event profile,” said Victoria Zazulina, M.D., Head of Development Unit Oncology for the Healthcare business of Merck. “The work of NMS to discover and advance this next generation PARP1 selective inhibitor coupled with our deep expertise in developing therapies which modify DNA damage response mechanisms, creates a strong foundation to further develop this investigational therapy for patients.”

During the option period, NMS and Merck will collaborate on the clinical development of NMS-293 as monotherapy and in combination, with NMS designing, sponsoring, conducting, and funding global clinical trials.

About NMS-293

NMS-293 is an orally available small molecule inhibitor of PARP1 and is currently in early clinical development for the treatment of patients with BRCA mutated tumors as single agent and with recurrent Glioblastoma (GBM), a brain tumor with very high medical need, in combination with temozolomide (TMZ).

About Nerviano Medical Sciences

Nerviano Medical Sciences S.r.l. (NMS Srl) is focused on discovery and clinical development of small-molecule new chemical entities (NCEs) for oncology. We take innovative approaches on novel mechanisms of action and drug targets to bring first- and best-in-class personalized medicines to cancer patients. Our current pipeline consists of NCEs originating from our well validated kinase platform that span from early preclinical to clinical stage projects and which are being developed both in-house and with partners.
NMS Srl combines the flexibility of a biotech with the quality of a big pharma. Our experienced management team leads a highly skilled staff of professionals with global vision and a broad range of expertise in research, drug discovery and clinical development. We cover the whole range of additional aspects of drug development through the NMS Group affiliate companies, Accelera (AdMet) and NerPharMa (manufacturing).
A key strength is our industrially renowned kinase inhibitor drug discovery platform which comprises an ever-evolving chemical collection with broad intellectual property coverage, discovery know-how and technologies which enabled us to out-license IP rights on recently approved innovative medicines such as encorafenib and entrectinib.
We collaborate with academia and clinical investigators as well as with industrial partners worldwide to advance our programs from early discovery to clinical development of new drugs. We seek further strategic collaborations to develop and commercialize our products in different territories as well as in-licensing opportunities of promising assets for clinical development.

About NMS Group

NMS Group is the largest oncological R&D company in Italy. More than half of our 400 employees are highly educated individuals dedicated to innovative research, development and manufacturing. The NMS kinase inhibitor discovery platform as well as the antibody-conjugating payload platform are the driving forces of the group's innovation, securing global recognition of NMS in personalized therapy. Recently entrectinib, originally discovered by NMS, is a targeted kinase inhibitor to treat NTRK1/2/3 and ROS1 dependent solid tumors that was licensed to Ignyta, now a member of the Roche Group, gained approvals for commercialization in all major markets. This is further evident of the competitiveness of the drug discovery platform of NMS Group.

NMS Group has three subsidiaries. NMS S.r.l. is a FIC / BIC focused drug research and development company with a robust pipeline of more than a dozen anti-cancer projects, and three of the projects are currently in early clinical development. The other two subsidiaries are Accelera, which is a preclinical CRO company, and NerPharMa which manufactures API and drug products supporting clinical developments and commercialization.

To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.

Contact information

Media contact: Sidney Dung Sidney.dung@nmsgroup.it

About Business Wire

For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Transition Industries Signs Strategic Agreements for the Pacifico Mexinol Project, the Largest Standalone Ultra-Low Carbon Chemical Production Facility in the World30.6.2025 21:30:00 EEST | Press release

Transition Industries LLC, a developer of world-scale, net-zero carbon emissions methanol and green hydrogen projects in North America, held a signing event for an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract with the consortium of Samsung E&A Co., Ltd. (Samsung E&A), Grupo Samsung E&A Mexico, S.A. de C.V., and Techint Engineering and Construction for the Pacifico Mexinol project located in Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico, which is contingent upon the fulfillment of customary conditions precedent and obtainment of all required approvals. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250630940954/en/ MAIRE group’s technology division NextChem, through its subsidiary KT TECH SpA, also signed a Basic Engineering, Critical and Proprietary Equipment Supply Agreement with Samsung E&A in connection with its proprietary NX AdWinMethanol®Zero technology supply to the project. Transition Industries is jointly developing the Pacif

Westinghouse and ITER Sign a $180M Contract to Advance Nuclear Fusion30.6.2025 16:45:00 EEST | Press release

Westinghouse Electric Company and ITER signed a contract for $180 million for the assembly of the vacuum vessel for the fusion reactor. This is a key milestone in the construction of the ITER reactor, leading the way toward the use of fusion as a practical future source of reliable carbon-free energy. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250630497810/en/ The ITER Tokamak pit with the two vacuum vessel sector modules installed. Westinghouse has participated in the fabrication of the sectors of the vacuum vessel, as part of the Fusion for Energy (F4E) Consortium with its partners Ansaldo Nucleare and Walter Tosto. Westinghouse will be responsible for completing the vacuum vessel which is ITER’s most critical component: a hermetically sealed, double-walled steel container that will house the fusion plasma. When all the vacuum vessel sectors are in place, Westinghouse will start the most intensive stage of ITER assembl

Monetate Acquires SiteSpect to Deliver AI-Native Personalization and Testing at Enterprise Scale30.6.2025 16:00:00 EEST | Press release

Monetate, the leading AI-driven personalization platform, today announced it has acquired SiteSpect, a leader in A/B testing, to drive next-generation digital experience optimization. This acquisition accelerates Monetate’s vision to deliver intelligent, intentional, and individualized experiences at scale, powered by agentic AI and backed by the industry’s most advanced, enterprise-grade infrastructure. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250630514541/en/ The combination of Monetate’s real-time personalization and SiteSpect’s zero-flicker testing will yield an industry-first solution for enterprise-grade personalization, testing, and optimization. For the first time, global ecommerce and digital experience leaders can access unified client-side and server-side experimentation with full personalization capabilities in a single solution, designed for scalability and regulatory compliance. Monetate is now the only e

SS&C Blue Prism Recognized as a Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ RPA Leader for the Seventh Consecutive Year30.6.2025 16:00:00 EEST | Press release

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSNC) today announced that SS&C Blue Prism has been recognized as a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation (RPA). “We’re delighted SS&C Blue Prism has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation for the seventh year running,” said Bill Stone, CEO and Chairman of SS&C Technologies. “SS&C Blue Prism combines market-leading RPA and orchestration technologies with the latest artificial intelligence so organizations can tackle more complex tasks and dynamic business processes. We’ve scaled to more than 2,700 digital workers and AI agents across our own operations, resulting in over $200 million in annual savings. With SS&C leading the charge on deployment, customers can be confident in rolling out SS&C’s automation solutions securely, effectively, and responsibly.” More than 2,800 companies worldwide leverage SS&C Blue Prism for AI-powered automation, helping organizations delive

Takeda Announces U.S. FDA Approval of GAMMAGARD LIQUID ERC, the Only Ready-to-Use Liquid Immunoglobulin Therapy with Low Immunoglobulin A (IgA) Content 130.6.2025 15:00:00 EEST | Press release

Takeda(TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved GAMMAGARD LIQUID ERC [immune globulin infusion (human)] with less than or equal to 2 µg/mL IgA in a 10% solution, the only ready-to-use liquid immunoglobulin (IG) therapy with low immunoglobulin A (IgA) content, as replacement therapy for people two years of age and older with primary immunodeficiency (PI). As a ready-to-use liquid, GAMMAGARD LIQUID ERC may help ease the administration burden for patients and their health care providers by eliminating the need for reconstitution and can be administered intravenously or subcutaneously.1 “The approval of GAMMAGARD LIQUID ERC reinforces our commitment to supporting individualized treatment approaches for people with primary immunodeficiency, including a therapeutic option that has the lowest IgA content of any ready-to-use liquid immunoglobulin therapy, and can be administered intravenously or subcutaneously,” said Kristina Allikmets, s

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye