Dyax Corp. has granted a non-exclusive license to its proprietary phage display libraries to Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany) for the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies and peptides.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dyax receives an upfront technology license fee from Merck, as well as annual maintenance fees, clinical milestone payments and royalties on net sales of any products that may result from Merck's use of the Dyax libraries. In addition, Merck has an option for Dyax to perform funded research on its behalf. The agreement provides Merck with a license to Dyax's antibody and peptide phage display technology and patent rights, as well as sublicenses to relevant third-party antibody phage display patents that may be used with Dyax's technology.

Henry E. Blair, Chairman, President and CEO of Dyax commented, "I'm pleased with the steady growth in Dyax's revenue-generating collaborations, as evidenced by this addition of Merck KGaA as a library licensee. This collaboration will allow Merck to utilize Dyax's state-of-the-art libraries of fully human monoclonal antibodies, as well as our unique peptide libraries. We look forward to working with the Discovery team at Merck, and to the future potential to conduct funded research on their behalf."