Netherlands Translational Research Center (NTRC) entered into a license agreement with Merck & Co through its affiliate MSD Oss. Under the terms of the agreement, NTRC has obtained a worldwide exclusive license to develop and commercialize a series of investigational, preclinical protein kinase inhibitor candidates, which are believed to be involved in autoimmune diseases, inflammation, and some cancers.

NTRC is a biotech company recently established at the Pivot Park in Oss, the Netherlands. NTRC translates academic science into small molecule drug candidates. The license agreement with Merck enables NTRC to expand its drug discovery portfolio with an advanced lead optimization project in the field of immunology.

Besides small molecule drug discovery, NTRC Services provides compound profiling services on cancer cell lines, Oncolines, which the firm says represent the most frequent genetic aberrations in cancer. The panel of cell lines allows a quick scan of the most suitable genetic background for proof-of-concept studies. In addition, NTRC Services develops assays for ultra-high throughput screening at the Pivot Park for other pharmaceutical companies.

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