Partnerships

GeoVax Labs, Inc. (Atlanta, GA) and Vivalis (Nantes, France) have signed a letter of intent (LOI) for joint collaboration and commercial license using Vivalis’s EBx technology to manufacture the MVA component of GeoVax’s HIV-1 vaccine.

Merck Serono (Geneva, Switzerland), a division of Merck KGaA, and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland) have entered into a research collaboration agreement in neuroscience, oncology, and drug delivery.

Dynavax Technologies Corporation (Berkeley, CA) and Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, NJ) have announced a global license and development collaboration agreement to jointly develop HEPLISAV, an investigational hepatitis B vaccine that is currently being evaluated in a multi-center Phase 3 clinical trial involving adults and in patients on dialysis.

One of the very last sessions on the very last day of BIO 2005 drew quite a crowd. It was titled, "The Five Worst Mistakes You Can Make When Creating a Collaboration or Strategic Alliance."

He potential for frustration, time-wasting, and bad feelings between pharma and biotech partners is enormous. That some successful decisions are made under these circumstances is something of a miracle.

Biotechnology players are emerging in countries that historically have not been substantially active in this industry.

by David Wallis, Dechert and Jan Heybroek Whether you're on the inlicensing or outlicensing side of a collaboration, attention must be paid to putting forth the right image and learning about your prospective partners before the alliance is struck.