No leverage, no matter

The terms of Vertex Pharmaceutical Inc.'s deal with Merck & Co. Inc. to develop and market VRTX's preclinical VX-680 small molecule Aurora kinase inhibitor include an "opportunity to negotiate" co-promotion rather than the more commonly seen option to co-promote. The question, of course, is how much leverage any company could have to negotiate terms later on. The answer turns out to be "not much." But VRTX says it doesn't matter because the option isn't considered an important part of the agreement.

"Neither Merck nor us thinks the payoff is going to come from the co-promotion," said Chairman and CEO Joshua Boger...