As part of the global strategic alliance between Merck, based in Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer to jointly develop and commercialize avelumab, an investigational immune checkpoint inhibitor, the companies have announced a collaboration agreement with Dako, an Agilent Technologies company, for the development of a potential companion diagnostic test (CDx).

The three-party agreement, signed recently, enables Dako, Merck and Pfizer work to develop the CDx to assess programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein expression levels in tumor tissue and its microenvironment, including tumor-associated immune cells. The investigational CDx is part of the protocols in ongoing clinical trials of avelumab, some of which will be reported at upcoming scientific congresses.

The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.