Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Pfizer Six Pack
Since the mid 1990s, Pfizer has enhanced its genomics drug discovery by collab-
orating with third party technology providers. By 2000, it had developed a “six
pack” alliance hub with partners ArQule Inc. (ARQL, Medford, MA), Aurora
Biosciences Corp. (ANSC, San Diego, CA), Celera Genomics Group (CRA,
Rockville, MD), Evotec BioSystems AG (NMarkt:EVT, Hamburg, DE), Incyte
Genomics Inc. (INCY, Palo Alto, CA) and Neurogen Corp. (NRGN, Branford,
CT). Each partner brought expertise in early stage genetics and high throughput
screening, such as ArQule's mapping array combinatorial chemistry libraries, to
help Pfizer leverage its downstream drug development capability. The interactions
also brought additional benefits such as opportunities for technology bundling
and integration, training for staff and volume discounts on research reagents.
This partnership strategy marked a significant shift for Pfizer in its approach to
drug discovery, acknowledging the advantages of bringing ideas in from outside
in terms of speed to market and increased innovation in its R&D (Zipkin, 2000).
Pipeline Deal Between Hoffman-La Roche and Antisoma
Hoffman-La Roche partnered with Antisoma Plc in 2003 at a cost of $43 million
to gain access to its entire oncology product pipeline at all phases of develop-
ment, along with all other Antisoma products moving into trials within 5 years.
The agreement also includes options for Antisoma to buy back the rights to
compounds with smaller market potential at various points during development
(http://www.antisoma.co.uk).
Merck & Co.: Cancer Antibody Co-development Partnerships
Merck & Co., and Agensys recently announced they would collaborate on
Pre-clinical and Phase I co-development and commercialisation of a novel ther-
apeutic antibody for prostate cancer treatment. AGS-PSCA is an antibody that
targets a prostate stem cell antigen and was discovered by UCLA scientists who
later founded Agensys as they explored this target with the AGS-PSCA prod-
uct. Merck & Co., also recently announced pre-clinical cancer collaborations
with Vertex to develop and commercialise VX-680 and conduct joint research
on Aurora Kinase inhibitors to identify drug candidates. These deals are worth
around $200 and $350 million to Merck & Co., with initial upfront payments of
$17.5 and $20 million respectively, reflecting the early stage of development of
the technology (http://www.merck.com).
SNP Consortium
SNP consortium of pharmaceutical and bio-informatics companies, academic
centres and The Wellcome Trust was launched in April 1999 to “develop and
freely distribute a high density SNP map of the human genome” (Sykes, 2000,
p. 74).
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