The Connections Between Bind Therapeutics And Whitehouse Station Run Much Deeper Than Press Releases

The CEO of Bind (depicted at right) is an ex-Baxter maven (as President Latin America/Pacific Rim, for Diagnostics Division). Also had some nice history at ALZA. Fascinating guy. Former Arch Venture Partners whiz too. . . .

It is likely that Merck's Dr. Permutter thinks highly of him and Bind, from his decade at Amgen. The connections run well beyond a simple oncology candidate target contract. Go read all of John Carroll's well-sourced piece in FierceBiotech, on the topic:

. . . .If Merck takes the lead, they "would pay us based on a multiple of the investment we had made to that point," notes Bind CEO Scott Minick.

Bind's deal with Amgen may not have paid out in the long term, but the relationship the biotech created with its then-external R&D chief Iain Dukes helped set the stage for this new pact with Merck. Merck hired ex-Amgen R&D chief Roger Perlmutter to run R&D, and Perlmutter then helped recruit Dukes to Merck. Merck was "thinking strategically on oncology, and we found a nice alignment of interests," Minick tells FierceBiotech. . . .

Off now, to a board meeting, then the North Woods. . . be excellent to one another, and go see "Interstellar".