“Caraway’s multidisciplinary approach has yielded important progress in evaluating novel mechanisms of modulation of lysosomal function with potential for the treatment of progressive neurodegenerative diseases,” said George Addona, Senior Vice President, Discovery, Preclinical Development and Translational Medicine, Merck & Co. “We look forward to applying our expertise to build upon this work with the goal of developing much needed disease-modifying therapies for these conditions.”

Caraway is a preclinical biopharmaceutical company pursuing the treatment of genetically defined neurodegenerative and rare diseases. The company has built a pipeline of novel, small-molecule therapeutics for this purpose.

Martin D. Williams, CEO Caraway Therapeutics commented, “This acquisition leverages Merck’s industry-leading research and development capabilities to help further advance our discovery and preclinical programs. We thank and appreciate our investors, including SV Health Investors and its Dementia Discovery Fund, AbbVie Ventures, Amgen Ventures, Eisai Innovation and MRL Ventures Fund for their support.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Merck, through a subsidiary, will acquire all outstanding shares of Caraway with earnout milestones associated with the development of certain pipeline candidates. The Board of Directors of Caraway Therapeutics has approved the transaction. Merck, through its MRL Ventures Fund, has been a shareholder of Caraway Therapeutics since 2018.