Dew, some on the Yahoo Finance Kos board seem to think this Merck product will use Niaspan. I see no evidence that this has been outlicensed by Merck. One slide does depict a trial with Niaspan but this isn't suprising since they could easily obstain it and wanted to make sure the inhibitor worked before finalizing their own extended release niacin. After all it is not rocket science to develop an extended release niacin pill.
Could they progress to Phase III without a partnership or would they need a deal in place before that?