Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and Instituto Butantan, Sao Paulo, Brazil, a non-profit producer of immunobiologic products for Brazil have announced a collaboration agreement to develop vaccines to protect against dengue virus disease, the mosquito-borne infection.

Instituto Butantan and Merck have licensed certain rights from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), for the development of live attenuated tetravalent vaccines (LATV). Instituto Butantan’s dengue vaccine candidate, TV003, is currently being evaluated in a large Phase 3 study in Brazil.

Under the agreement, Merck and Instituto Butantan have agreed to collaborate to share clinical data and other learnings from their respective dengue vaccine development programs, both derived from licensed materials from the NIAID.

Instituto Butantan will receive a $26 million upfront payment from Merck and is eligible to receive up to $75 million for the achievement of certain milestones related to the development and commercialization of Merck’s investigational vaccine as well as potential royalties on sales. Instituto Butantan will retain responsibility for the manufacturing and commercialization of their investigational vaccine, TV003, in Brazil.