Merck Signs $2.13 Billion Deal with Shanghai Biotech SciBrunch for Untested KRAS Cancer Drug

Pharmaceutical giant Merck has signed a global licensing deal worth up to $2.13 billion with SciBrunch Therapeutics, a Shanghai-based biotech founded just two years ago, for rights to develop, manufacture and sell an oral drug candidate that targets the KRAS mutation. KRAS is one of the most common cancer-driving mutations, found across pancreatic, colorectal and lung cancers, and has historically been considered undruggable.

Under the terms announced on October 1, Merck will pay $400 million upfront with the remainder tied to development, regulatory and commercial milestones. The drug candidate has not yet been tested in a single human patient, making this one of the largest licensing deals in recent memory for a purely preclinical asset. The size of the upfront payment signals Merck's confidence in the underlying science and its urgency to build a competitive KRAS pipeline.

The deal reflects the accelerating flow of oncology innovation from Chinese biotechs to Western pharma. SciBrunch's two-year trajectory from founding to a multi-billion-dollar licensing agreement illustrates how quickly promising preclinical programmes can attract major capital in the current competitive landscape for cancer drug development.

KRAS inhibitors have become one of the most intensely contested areas in oncology since the first approved KRAS G12C inhibitor reached the market. The mutation drives approximately 25 percent of all human cancers, making a broadly effective inhibitor a potential blockbuster. For Merck, the deal addresses a gap in its oncology portfolio as the company faces eventual patent expiry on its immunotherapy franchise. Whether the preclinical promise translates through clinical trials remains the critical unknown.