Transgene, a biopharmaceutical company, announced that it has entered into a non-exclusive license agreement with Merck & Co., Inc., a leading research-driven pharmaceutical products and services company, for Transgene's patents that claim methods for the preparation of recombinant viral vectors, in particular adenovirus vectors, by intermolecular homologous recombination. This technology enables the highly efficient and fast generation of adenovirus vectors.

In addition to an initial license fee, Transgene is entitled to receive additional annual maintenance fees and also may be entitled to milestones based on the development by Merck of products that are subject to the agreement, as well as royalties on any such products that are marketed. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We are very pleased to have signed this agreement with Merck,” said Jean-François Carmier, chief executive officer of Transgene. “In addition to the potential of this deal to provide important revenues to Transgene in the future, we see this agreement as a recognition of our adenovirus technology patents and we look forward to receiving expressions of interest from other potential licensees.”