NEW YORK (AP) – Biotechnology company Ambrx Inc. said that it will receive $15 million and could receive more than $300 million from a new partnership with Merck & Co. to develop drugs using its delivery technology.

Merck will pay Ambrx $15 million upfront, and Ambrx said it could get an additional $288 million for discovery of potential drugs and development and sales of experimental products. The La Jolla, Calif., company will also get royalties on any products that are approved and sold.

Privately held Ambrx is a development-stage company and does not have any products on the market. It develops drugs that are designed to deliver a molecule to the specific part of the body where it is needed. It is also collaborating with drug companies including Eli Lilly and Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

Merck, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue.

Date: June 18, 2012
Source: Associated Press