Alteogen收到默沙东Keytruda Qlex首个2500万美元销售里程碑付款，为最高10亿美元销售里程碑中的首笔

Alteogen (196170) said on the 31st it will receive a $25 million sales milestone payment from U.S. drugmaker Merck, known as MSD outside the United States, for Keytruda Qlex, a subcutaneous formulation of the cancer immunotherapy Keytruda.
The payment is the first of up to $1 billion in sales milestones included in the licensing agreement between Alteogen and MSD. An Alteogen official said the milestone shows the company has grown into a biotech that generates revenue from product sales, beyond technology licensing and development-stage achievements.
Unlike development-stage payments tied to clinical trials and regulatory approvals, sales milestones are triggered by actual product sales in global markets. Keytruda Qlex posted revenue of $590 million in the first half of this year, according to MSD's earnings report.
Keytruda Qlex is a leading PD-1 inhibitor used both as a monotherapy and in combination regimens across a range of cancer indications. Since its launch in October last year, it has recorded revenue of $40 million in the fourth quarter of that year, $128 million in the first quarter of 2026 and $463 million in the second quarter of 2026. Alteogen provided the technology needed to convert Keytruda from an intravenous formulation to a subcutaneous one.
Alteogen has signed partnerships with a total of nine global pharmaceutical companies based on Hybrozyme, its proprietary hyaluronidase-based platform for converting drugs to subcutaneous formulations. An Alteogen official said the company will continue to expand partnerships with global drugmakers so that more patients can benefit from the faster and more convenient treatment options that subcutaneous formulations offer.