Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
In October 2024 Merck (NYSE: MRK) acquired Modifi Biosciences, a Yale University spinout, for $30 million upfront in cash plus up to $1.3 billion in contingent milestone payments to former shareholders. The deal gives Merck Modifi's lead candidate MOD-246 (academically KL-50), an orally available, temozolomide-derived small molecule designed to kill cancer cells that lack the DNA-repair protein MGMT (O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase) by inducing DNA interstrand crosslinks while sparing healthy tissue. The lead indication is MGMT-deficient glioblastoma, an area with no novel approvals in roughly two decades. At acquisition the program was preclinical; as of December 2025 IND-enabling studies were ongoing and the asset had not yet entered the clinic, with first-in-human dosing projected for 2026.