Rahway-based Merck & Co. Inc. on Tuesday said it agreed to pay up to $610 million to acquire Caraway Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based preclinical biopharmaceutical company pursuing new approaches for the treatment of genetically defined neurodegenerative and rare diseases.
“Caraway’s multidisciplinary approach has yielded important progress in evaluating novel mechanisms of modulation of lysosomal function with potential for the treatment of progressive neurodegenerative diseases,” George Addona, senior vice president, discovery, preclinical development and translational medicine, Merck Research Laboratories, said. “We look forward to applying our expertise to build upon this work with the goal of developing much needed disease-modifying therapies for these conditions.”
Caraway’s pipeline includes novel, small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of genetically defined neurodegenerative and rare diseases.
“This important milestone is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Caraway team and our mission to develop therapeutics with the potential to alter the progression of devasting neurodegenerative diseases and help patients,” Martin Williams, CEO of Caraway Therapeutics, said.
Merck’s upfront payment for Caraway Therapeutics will be expensed by the company in the fourth quarter of 2023 and included in non-GAAP results.
