Xoma Ltd. has granted Merck & Co., Inc. a non-exclusive, worldwide license for Xoma’s antibodyrelated intellectual property.

Under the agreement, Merck receives a license to use Xoma’s bacterial cell expression intellectual property for phage display with potential use in the discovery of antibody products.

Xoma will receive an undisclosed access fee, milestones and royalties on future sales of any products subject to this license. Additional financial terms were not disclosed. The agreement also provides an option for Merck to use Xoma’s bacterial cell expression intellectual property to manufacture antibodies. Should Merck exercise this option, Xoma will receive an option fee, additional milestones and royalties.

Bacterial cell expression technology (BCE) is an enabling technology used to discover and screen, as well as develop and manufacture, recombinant antibodies for commercial purposes. BCE is also a key technology used in multiple systems for high-throughput screening of antibody domains.