Merck Serono has licensed worldwide rights to develop and commercialise Symphogen’s lead oncology drug candidate Sym004 in a deal potentially worth €495 M (US$622 M). Sym004, a mixture of two anti-EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) monoclonal antibodies, is currently being studied in a Phase I/II trial for advanced KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer and in a Phase II trial for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. The drug candidate represents a potential successor to the EGFR-targeted monoclonal antibody Erbitux® (cetuximab).