Evaxion Significantly Expands Vaccine Development Collaboration With MSD

Evaxion Biotech A/S recently announced it has entered into an option and license agreement with MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc.) for two preclinical vaccine candidates. The agreement expands the companies’ current collaboration and carries significant value for Evaxion.

Under the terms of the agreement, Evaxion has granted MSD an option to exclusively license Evaxion’s preclinical vaccine candidates EVX-B2 and EVX-B3. EVX-B2 is a protein-based candidate for Gonorrhea and EVX-B3 targets an undisclosed infectious agent. In return, Evaxion receives an upfront payment of $3.2 million and up to $10 million in 2025, contingent upon MSD exercising its option to license either one or both candidates. In addition, Evaxion is eligible for development, regulatory and sales milestone payments with a potential value of up to $592 million per product, as well as royalties on net sales.

“This expanded collaboration with MSD, a world leader in vaccine development and commercialization, is truly transformative for Evaxion. It provides strong validation of our AI-Immunology™ platform and novel vaccine candidates. The agreement follows our strategy of leveraging external collaborations to unlock the value of our technology while advancing our innovative pipeline to create long-term value for patients and our shareholders,” said Christian Kanstrup, CEO of Evaxion.

“Vaccines offer a powerful option for reducing the impact and spread of infectious diseases,” said Tarit Mukhopadhyay, Vice President, Head of Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Discovery, MSD Research Laboratories. “We are excited to expand our collaboration with Evaxion with a focus on advancing EVX-B2 and EVX-B3 into clinical development.”

Evaxion and MSD have been collaborating on EVX-B3 since 2023. Also in 2023, MSD, through its Global Health Innovation Fund (MGHIF), led a private placement round of financing for Evaxion to become the company’s single largest shareholder. MGHIF also participated in Evaxion’s public offering in February this year.

Evaxion Biotech A/S is a pioneering TechBio company based upon its AI platform, AI-Immunology. Evaxion’s proprietary and scalable AI prediction models harness the power of artificial intelligence to decode the human immune system and develop novel immunotherapies for cancer, bacterial diseases, and viral infections. Based upon AI-Immunology, Evaxion has developed a clinical-stage oncology pipeline of novel personalized vaccines and a preclinical infectious disease pipeline in bacterial and viral diseases with high unmet medical needs. Evaxion is committed to transforming patients’ lives by providing innovative and targeted treatment options. For more information, visit our website.