In a deal potentially worth up to €456.5 M (US$587 M), Merck & Co. has obtained exclusive global rights from Ablynx to develop and commercialise Nanobody® candidates directed towards a voltage-gated ion channel, along with an option for similar rights to a second target. Nanobodies comprise a novel class of therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments. With this deal, Merck joins Ablynx’s list of big pharma Nanobody partners that includes Merck Serono, Boehringer Ingelheim and Novartis.