Merck Signs Deal For Luminex Device to Help Screen Patients For Alzheimer's Study

   By Saabira Chaudhuri 
 

Merck & Co. (MRK) has inked a deal with Luminex Corp. (LMNX) to develop a device that could help screen patients for recruitment into a clinical development program for its lead investigational candidate for Alzheimer's disease.

Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

The study is focused on MK-8931, a novel oral beta amyloid precursor protein site cleaving enzyme inhibitor. Merck noted the accumulation of beta amyloid in the brain is a key pathological characteristic related to Alzheimer's. It said recent clinical evidence supports the idea that measuring certain investigational biomarkers may be useful in identifying patients at greater risk of developing the disease.

Currently, Alzheimer's is diagnosed by clinical examination. The disease progressively destroys neurons in the brain, leading to a deterioration of cognitive function.

"Evaluation of biomarkers that may provide an indicator of disease onset and enable earlier diagnosis is an important goal toward facilitating early intervention and potentially improving the treatment of Alzheimer's disease," said Darryle D. Schoepp, head of neuroscience and ophthalmology at Merck Research Laboratories.

Under the terms of the collaboration and license agreement, Luminex will be responsible for development, regulatory submission and commercialization of the companion diagnostic device, which will use its technology to measure concentrations of two candidate biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with mild cognitive impairment.

The candidate device will be evaluated as a means to identify subjects with mild cognitive impairment who have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's to support patient selection for Merck's program.

The agreement comes as Merck's research and development engine is under pressure to produce successful new products as it faces sales erosion from patent expirations for top-selling drugs, most recently for allergy and asthma treatment Singulair. The company has been cutting costs as part of an effort to soften the hit from increased generic competition while also working to bring new products to market.

Merck and other big pharmaceutical companies have tried to expand into biotechnology drugs, which are often derived from proteins rather than traditional, chemical-based pills. Aside from bringing new approaches to attacking disease, biotechnology drugs can also command higher prices and are less directly exposed to generic competition than traditional pills.

Earlier this month, Merck named former Amgen Inc. (AMGN) executive Roger M. Perlmutter to lead its drug R&D arm, replacing Peter S. Kim, who it said is retiring.

Merck's shares edged down by a penny to $44.60 in recent premarket trading. The stock has risen 17% in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, Luminex's shares were inactive from a Tuesday close of $16.78. Its stock has dropped 26% in the past 12 months.

--Peter Loftus contributed to this article.

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at [e-mail]

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