Monday, November 8, 2010

New Merck To Focus On Licensing Deals, Near Term -- To Gain Pipe-Leverage


At a "LifeSciences Summit" conference today, a Merck-i-fied exec had this to say -- per the Philadelphia Business Journal -- do go read it all:

. . . .Meeta Chatterjee, head of global outlicensing at Merck & Co. Inc., said the North Jersey company is getting more active in outlicensing since its acquisition of Schering-Plough last year.

“This is something new to Merck,” Chatterjee said, noting the two companies combined spent $8 billion on research and development — a figure that could not be sustained post-merger.

She said Merck is exploring a variety of outlicensing models including “straight-out” licenses, deals that include options for Merck to re-license the product, and single-product or asset-bundle deals. . . .

It is certainly true that in the new world, this still-newly-combined company must find ways to bring more and more products to market, using fewer resources per product candidate. That is the new reality. We'll keep you informed.

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