Shares of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, a shuttered drug company with no employees or any active research programs, more than doubled Wednesday because of a $225 million windfall that it will receive due to the success of a treatment for pancreatic cancer.
The approved cancer drug, called Onivyde, was once owned by Merrimack, but was sold in 2017 to the French drugmaker Ipsen. The deal gave Merrimack $575 million in cash, plus the potential for another $450 million in future cash payments contingent on Onivyde winning additional regulatory approvals.
Merrimack eventually shuttered all of its operations in 2019 and transformed into a publicly traded shell company that, nonetheless, retained the promise of big cash payments based on the future success of the cancer drug it once owned.
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