Merck & Co. has formed a collaboration with Abide Therapeutics, a spin-out from The Scripps Research Institute, to discover, develop and commercialise small molecule therapies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes by targeting enzymes of the serine hydrolase class. Serine hydrolases represent one of the largest known enzyme families but are mostly under-explored as drug targets. The deal comes only days after Merck partnered with Pfizer to co-develop and co-commercialise ertugliflozin (PF-04971729), a sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor that is expected to enter Phase III development for type 2 diabetes later in 2013.