Merck buys Yale spinoff Modifi

Merck & Co. has bought a Yale University spinout called Modifi Biosciences for $30 million up front and the potential for more than $1.3 billion in milestone payments. Modifi is developing small molecules that can seek out cancer cells with DNA repair defects that make it difficult for the cells to develop resistance to treatment. Specifically, the start-up is targeting cancer cells lacking a protein called O 6 -methylguanine methyl transferase that’s critical to DNA repair. Modifi’s compounds have not yet been tested in humans.