US drug giant Merck injects $20m into Bionomics’ Alzheimer’s research

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Generic scenes at Sonic Healthcare head office.

High hopes: Merck is backing Bionomics’ research. Photo: Louie Douvis

Biotech Bionomics banked $US20 million ($21.3 million) on Tuesday as downpayment for a deal that could be worth more than $US500 million if a new research compound for treating cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia makes it to commercial development.

The deal ranks behind only the $1 billion received by Mesoblast for progress with some of its stem cell treatments with Cephalon of the US, which is now owned by Teva Pharmaceutical.

But unlike Mesoblast – which is funding its research programs internally – the research costs for the Bionomics compound, BNC 375, will be borne by its partner, US drug company Merck.

Bionomics said Merck had agreed to pay Bionomics an initial $US20 million, and as much as $US506 million in total milestone payments if BNC 375 is commercialised.