Pharma and Academia: Finding New Ways to Join Hands for Mutual Benefit

Much has been written and said about Big Pharma's "evolve or die" situation. Faced by patent cliffs, unimaginative pipelines, risk-averse regulators and cost-conscious payors, as well as the sheer expense of conducting internal R&D, traditional vertically integrated companies are reconfiguring into more flexible networks. Increasingly they are looking outside their organizations for novel compounds, hoping to distribute the development risk by cutting deals that allow for a shared reward. (See "Lilly and Merck Lead the Way with Asian FIPNet Strategies," IN VIVO, May 2008 Also see "Lilly and Merck Lead the Way With Asian FIPNet Strategies" - In Vivo, 1 May, 2008..) Even as companies look to smaller biotech partners for novel compounds, they are also inking earlier-stage arrangements with academe, tapping brilliant minds for help dissecting thorny biological mechanisms as well as forming collaborations in the so-called translational space, where key research demonstrates some element of proof-of-concept.

These new marquis tie-ups aren't the standard outsourcing relationships of yore but true partnerships. In return for a modest investment of money and in-kind resources, the pharmaceutical company gains access to thought leaders and new technologies without taking on the further cost—and risk—of additional infrastructure. Moreover, the relationship ensures a front row seat from which to observe unfolding areas of scientific inquiry, especially when industry scientists are embedded in university labs. The academics, in turn, receive critical financing via a streamlined process that doesn't require hours spent writing grants for federal funding