Merck taps contract research firm IRBM for peptides to hit back at pandemic virus

Big Pharma Merck has been pretty quiet on its R&D for COVID-19, but while keen to keep hype to a minimum, its research work in the background has been growing.

Now, it’s striking another new deal but being characteristically quiet about it: In a brief release, and declining an interview with Fierce Biotech, the pharma has teamed up with Italian biopharma services company IRBM to “identify and develop novel peptide therapeutics active against different strains of coronavirus, including SARS-CoV-2,” the virus causing COVID-19.