UK charity pockets $150 million from Merck cancer immunotherapy drug

[July 15, 2016]  LONDON (Reuters) - British medical charity MRC Technology has pocketed $150 million by selling part of its royalty interest in Merck & Co's successful cancer drug Keytruda, allowing it to plough fresh funds into new research.

The charity said on Friday that a private equity fund managed by DRI Capital had acquired a portion of its royalty entitlement on the worldwide sales of the medicine.

Keytruda is one of a promising class of new treatments that stimulate the body’s immune system to fight cancer. It is an antibody-based medicine and was "humanized" by scientists at MRC Technology.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler. Editing by Jane Merriman)

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