Genmab’s $8B Merus takeout is latest push toward full ownership of programs

Genmab’s $8 billion takeout of Dutch multispecifics company Merus is the Danish biotech’s latest and largest step toward marketing its own pipeline, after many years of relying on a fruitful partnership model that delivered blockbuster revenues.

The proposed deal, announced early Monday, would give Genmab A/S (CSE:GMAB; NASDAQ:GMAB) late-stage cancer asset petosemtamab, an ADCC-enhanced human common light chain bispecific IgG1 antibody against LGR5 and EGFR. The molecule is in two Phase III trials to treat head and neck cancer...