Sunesis gets $4.25 million milestone payment from Merck

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., June 12 - Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has earned a $4.25 million payment from Merck & Co., Inc. for meeting certain preclinical milestones in the companies' collaboration to develop oral small molecule inhibitors of beta-amyloid converting enzyme (BACE), which is believed to play a key role in Alzheimer's disease.

"Merck and Sunesis have collaborated for several years to develop oral inhibitors of BACE that are both potent and able to cross the blood-brain barrier. We are pleased with the progress we've made to date and with Sunesis' contributions to our collaboration," said Merv Turner, Merck senior vice president of worldwide licensing and external research, in a statement.

Based in South San Francisco, Calif., Sunesis is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.

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