Merck, HMS Prof To Combat AMD

A Harvard Medical School (HMS) biochemist’s research on a common cause of blindness in the elderly has generated a lucrative deal with Merck & Co., the US’s second-largest drug provider.

Pfeiffer Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Robert R. Rando’s research has paved the way for the manufacturing of drugs that might combat the progression of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common version of AMD which causes vision loss in up to eight million American elderly a year.

Merck will pay an initial $3 million, along with later fees for further milestones in the development and royalties on resulting products, in exchange for the exclusive intellectual property rights to Rando’s work.

“The good thing about a big company like Merck is they can actually do the applied work that we have no interest in, being in an academic setting,” Rando said.

“Ophthalmic diseases have been a priority at Merck for a long while,” said Janet Skidmore, a spokeswoman for Merck.

“Though we do a lot of research internally, it’s only a very small percentage of what goes on,” she said. “We look to bring the best of science from the outside world as well.”

At the moment there are between 20 and 30 licensing deals between HMS researchers and the pharmaceutical industry, all of which run for the 15-year-or-more timespan that it takes to develop a drug to a marketable stage, according to director of business development for the Harvard University Office of Technology Development, Michal Preminger.

The deal with Rando resulted from the connections developed by a “scout” in Merck’s recently-opened research facility in Boston, according to Skidmore. She added that the scout’s major role was to foster interactions with Boston laboratories, especially since Boston is a “hotspot” for biochemical research and development.

The drugs to be developed would slow the build-up in the eye over time of retinotoxic molecules called lipofusins—the cause of AMD—according to Rando.

These toxins cause degeneration of the macula, the part of the retina that controls keenness of vision and color vision, sometimes to the point of complete blindness.

“Every time light is absorbed in the retina...it produces a chemically reactive by-product,” Rando said.

He explained that this by-product ought to be recycled by the eye, but its instability sometimes causes it to react with lipids to create lipofusins, whose stability prevents them from being easily broken down.

“By inhibiting certain steps, you can slow down the visual cycle enough to significantly prevent the build-up of this toxin,” he said.

Preminger said that Rando’s main role will be to “guide” the drug development.

“He will spend practically all his time doing academic work. It’s mainly an advisory role,” she said.

The one-year-old Office of Technology Development is also working on encouraging connections between Harvard researchers and the pharmaceutical industry, according to Preminger.

“The new office of technological development has been very proactive in pursuing relationships with industry,” she said. “At the same time companies have traditionally been interested in conducting research with Harvard.”

—Staff writer Alexandra C. Bell can be reached at acbell@fas.harvard.edu.