- Award recipients to receive in-kind technologies and services to accelerate therapeutics to market
- Merck experts to provide consultation and training in qualification, risk assessment, and process optimization
- Program extended this year to Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea
SINGAPORE 1 November 2024 – Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced the winners of its Emerging Biotech (EB) Grant Program in Asia Pacific. The Award is designed to support biotech startups with resources to enable emerging companies to discover, develop, optimize, and commercialize therapeutics faster and more efficiently.
“Merck is committed to supporting exceptional biotech companies to both kickstart and streamline their journey from discovery to manufacturing with our grant program,” said Chua Keng Hock, Senior Vice President, Process Solutions Asia Pacific, Life Science business of Merck. “We recognize the complexities involved in delivering next-generation therapies to the market. Merck’s EB Grant is designed to expedite the development of treatments that address critical unmet medical needs.”
The award recipients are:
| Country | Grand Prize Winner | Finalist Prize Winners | Special Mention |
| Australia & New Zealand | Southern RNA for enabling the manufacturing of mRNA for personalized medicines | Institute for Drug Technology for enabling the manufacturing of antibody-drug conjugates.Psaio for developing bispecific antibodies targeting prostate-specific antigen to treat prostate cancer. | Kimer Med for developinga family of broad-spectrum antiviral biologics to treat infectious diseases, and for pandemic protection. |
| Taiwan | HanchorBio for developing clinical-stage and next-generation immuno-oncology therapies through innovation in cutting-edge designer biologics with novel, multi-functional modalities. | Pell Biomed Technology for developing more efficient and cost-effective gene-modified cell therapies.Glyconex for glycan-directed cancer therapies including antibody-drug conjugates to treat a range of solid tumors such as gastrointestinal cancers. | Shine-On BioMedical for developing targeted exosomes as a platform for drug delivery as well as tri-specific antibody for cancer treatment. |
Merck experts selected the winning submissions based on the scientific and societal merit of the therapy in development and process challenges and expertise gaps that may impact ongoing development. In-kind technologies and services from Merck will be awarded to the winners in Australia & New Zealand and Taiwan to help solve these challenges.
Merck first started the EB grant program in 2014 in the United States and has expanded its reach to include Europe, China, South Korea and Taiwan in recent years. In 2024, the EB Grant was extended to Australia & New Zealand and is open to Taiwan and South Korea (the winners for South Korea were announced in July 2024). To-date, Merck’s EB Grant program has awarded technologies and consultation to over 40 biotechnology companies around the world, supporting their efforts to improve patient outcomes for various diseases such as cancer, brain tumors, osteoarthritis, and cardiovascular disorders.
Other Merck grants at group level:
https://www.merckgroup.com/en/research/open-innovation.html
