 SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 01, 2021 GLOBE NEWSWIRE -- NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. NGM today announced that the company has entered into an amended and restated agreement with Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, to extend their ongoing collaboration through March 2024 but with a narrower scope. NGM disclosed in March 2021 that NGM and Merck were negotiating modifications to certain terms of the agreement to better address their respective evolving priorities. Going forward, the collaboration will focus primarily on the development of novel medicines for unmet patient needs in retinal and CVM diseases, including heart failure. Merck retains an option to license those programs being advanced under the amended collaboration. NGM gains worldwide rights to its disclosed oncology portfolio, as well as all preclinical, and current and future research, assets falling outside of the amended collaborations narrower scope, subject to a low single digit net sales royalty to Merck. 