Print“Following Gilead’s recent acquisitions of cancer development programs, this partnership serves to strengthen our discovery capabilities in the area of oncology.”
Gilead Sciences and the Yale School of Medicine are entering into a multi-year research collaboration to discover novel cancer therapies that could provide up to $100 million over ten years to the academic institution.
The Gilead-Yale collaboration and similar recent efforts by pharmaceutical companies to mine external sources of innovation are examples of drug companies search for new models of R&D to boost productivity and deal with the rising cost of drug development.
It follows Sanofi Aventis’ recently announced diabetes collaboration with Columbia University Medical Center and Pfizer’s initiation of new drug discovery tie-ups with seven major medical research centers.
Gilead’s research effort with Yale will initially span four years with an option to renew the relationship for up to ten years. Gilead is committing $40 million in research support and basic science infrastructure development during the initial four-year period and will spend up to a total of $100 million over ten years if the partnership lasts that long. In return, it will have the first option to license Yale inventions that result from the collaboration.
Like the model Pfizer is following in its academic collaborations, Gilead and Yale have established a joint steering committee to choose which research projects to pursue. Joseph Schlessinger, chair of Yale's Department of Pharmacology and director of the Yale Cancer Biology Institute, will chair the committee.
“When we find cancer targets that are new, we will work with Gilead on designing drugs, which they can then test in the clinic,” says Schlessinger. “This is a tremendous opportunity for Yale and Gilead.”
Projects will take a multi-disciplinary approach in the search for the genetic basis and underlying molecular mechanisms of many forms of cancer. Scientists from both organizations will work together to identify new molecular targets that provide better understanding of the basis of disease and enable development of novel targeted therapies, including new therapies that overcome the drug resistance that develops in some cancer patients treated with current targeted therapies.
“Following Gilead’s recent acquisitions of cancer development programs, this partnership serves to strengthen our discovery capabilities in the area of oncology,” says Norbert Bischofberger, Gilead’s CSO and EVP of research and development.
In February, Gilead announced it was acquiring cancer startup Calistoga Pharmaceuticals for $375 million upfront and up to another $225 million in development and regulatory milestones. It acquired another cancer drug developer, Arresto BioSciences, in December for $225 million.
Gilead Sciences has had a working relationship with Yale, having teamed up with Yale spinout Achillion Pharmaceuticals in an early stage trial for a hepatitis C therapy in 2005, and acquiring CGI Pharmaceuticals, another Yale spinout, in June 2010 for $120 million.
April 01, 2011
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-gilead_sciences_partners_with_yale_university.html
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