shares of opko health inc rose after the diagnostics and pharmaceuticals company said it struck a licensing and collaboration deal with merck  co for the development of its preclinical epsteinbarr vaccine candidate the stock rose more than 20 to 127 a share over the past 12 months shares have fallen by almost 59 under the terms of the deal with merck announced wednesday morning opko will receive a 50 million upfront payment and is eligible for up to 8725 million in milestone payments the company is also eligible for royalties on global sales of the vaccine candidate known as mdx2201 the companies will jointly develop the candidate for an investigational new drug application filing after which merck will be responsible for clinical and regulatory activities as well as commercialization write to will feuer at willfeuerwsjcom