Merck KGaA to focus on ‘external innovation’ as it exits BTK inhibitor race

Mer­ck KGaA is re­vamp­ing its R&D ef­forts as it in­creas­es fo­cus on li­cens­ing deals rather than its in­ter­nal pipeline. Sev­er­al months af­ter a Phase III dis­ap­point­ment, its BTK in­hibitor is out the door, leav­ing the com­pa­ny with just two late-stage can­di­dates.

“We have stopped the [evo­bru­ti­nib] pro­gram — we are not go­ing to ex­plore any oth­er op­tion,” CEO Belén Gar­i­jo said dur­ing its full-year earn­ings call with the me­dia. “We have to be very dis­ci­plined with our cap­i­tal al­lo­ca­tion, and now we will fo­cus on the oth­er as­sets that we have in Phase III to move them for­ward.”

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