Nov 24 (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc will buy worldwide commercial rights to NewLink Genetics Corp's experimental Ebola vaccine.

Merck will have the right to research, develop, manufacture, and distribute the vaccine, rVSV-EBOV, as well as any follow-on products, the companies said in a joint statement.

Financial details were not disclosed.

The Public Health Agency of Canada, which originally developed the vaccine, will retain non-commercial rights to the drug.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has announced plans to start a large late-stage study of the vaccine in early 2015.

(Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bangalore; Editing by Siddharth Cavale)