The discovery of the second pre-clinical candidate under the collaboration that the companies entered into in 2008 has triggered €1m milestone payment to Ablynx.
Ablynx chairman and CEO Dr Edwin Moses said the joint oncology programme with Merck Serono is advancing into pre-clinical development in less than four years since the start of the collaboration.
"This is the second pre-clinical development asset that we have with Merck Serono and we are looking forward to seeing this programme advance towards the clinic," Dr Moses added.
Ablynx signed an agreement with Merck in September 2008, under which Merck Serono and Ablynx decided to co-discover and co-develop Nanobodies against two targets in immunology and oncology.