Merck and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. began an international Phase II trial of MK-0457 (also known as VX-680), a small molecule inhibitor of Aurora, FLT-3, JAK-2 and BCR-ABL kinases. The study will be conducted in patients with treatment-resistant chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphocytic leukemia (Ph+ ALL) containing the T315I BCR-ABL mutation. With the start of dosing, Vertex earned a $25 million milestone payment from Merck. “This pi...