Burrill: Big Pharma’s academic tie-ups are ‘nuts’

Posted under academic partnership, Big Pharma, Blog, Burrill & Co., Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Partnering, Pharmaceuticals, R&D, Startups, Steven Burrill, Universities, Videos by rmcbride

During an event at the University of Chicago, biotech visionary Steven Burrill discussed Big Pharma's role in the healthcare system and mentioned that its fate will lie in its ability to reinvent itself. One of the trends he commented on is the string of tie-ups involving drugmakers and academic groups, a trend that could help pharma stay on the cutting edge of research as it axes scientists' jobs. After saying that pharma has "gone back to school" in the academic collaborations, he added: "This is somewhat nuts. Pharma wants access to that ability but has no interest in paying for the downstream development." Read more

UC San Diego blueprints $110M R&D collaboration complex

Posted under academic partnership, Blog, Center for Innovative Therapeutics, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, R&D, Startups, Universities, University of California San Diego, Videos by john

In yet another ambitious effort to pilot academic drug research into the hands of biotech execs, the University of California in San Diego is readying a $110 million research complex designed to bring the two worlds closer together.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that its Board of Regents is expected to endorse construction of the Center for Innovative Therapeutics, where university investigators can collaborate with drug developers.

"The campus has evaluated options for providing research space that would increase collaboration among private companies and university researchers and clinicians and concluded that construction of a new facility is the optimal solution," says Thomas Kipps, the interim director of UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center in La Jolla, in a Q&A with the Union-Tribune. "With rapid growth in faculty and sponsored research activity that seeks to transform laboratory discoveries into effective treatment for patients, increased interaction with private companies is critical."

Kipps says he's collected two dozen letters of interest in the new facility from "startup companies, entrepreneurs and venture capital support companies." Once built, the complex is expected to bring together investigators from a variety of disciplines, a popular feature these days in the preclinical drug discovery world. 

- here's the story from the Union-Tribune

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UPDATED: Merck offers $90M to bankroll new drug discovery institute

Posted under academic partnership, Blog, Calibr, California Institute for Biomedical Research, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Merck, Pharmaceuticals, San Diego, Startups, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

Underscoring Big Pharma's growing love for collaborating with the scientific community, Merck ($MRK) is committing up to $90 million to fund the development of a new nonprofit institute in San Diego devoted to working with academic investigators on drug discovery projects. The goal of the California Institute for Biomedical Research--dubbed Calibr--will be bringing projects up to a stage where commercial partners can pick up development, with Merck holding on to options on any proteins and small molecules it likes for its own pipeline.

The new institute will be headed by Scripps' Peter Schultz, with a scientific board headed by Harvard's Christopher T. Walsh and a board of directors chaired by 5AM Ventures' John D. Diekman. Merck's $90 million will be provided over the next 7 years. Shultz says he'll hire a staff of 150 to handle the research work.

"Calibr represents a new paradigm for early-stage translational research," said Schultz. "By leveraging the drug discovery expertise and resources of Calibr, academic researchers will have the opportunity to maximize the potential therapeutic value of their research."

"Effective translation of basic biomedical research is essential to advancing the next generation of novel therapies," said Merck research chief Peter S. Kim, Ph.D., who will be a member of Calibr's scientific advisory board. "Calibr will provide an important venue where basic research and drug discovery scientists may leverage each others' strengths in the fight against disease."

In its release Merck noted that Calibr will be located near a major drug discovery hub, bordering The Scripps Research Institute, Salk Institute, UC San Diego and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. And its researchers will be promised the "latest high through-put screening and imaging, medicinal and protein chemistry and preclinical sciences capabilities."

- here's the press release

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Sanofi adds diabetes to collaborative effort at UCSF

Posted under academic partnership, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, Startups, Susan Desmond-Hellmann, UCSF, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

Sanofi ($SNY) is broadening its research ties with the University of California in San Francisco, which has been steadily growing its collaborative work with the biopharma industry under Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann. In the new $3.1 million pact, Sanofi researchers will work with investigators on new treatments for diabetes. Scientists are already joining forces with Sanofi on brain trauma and oncology. Release