Practical Dealmaking in Discovery: The Structural Biology Case
Executive Summary
Discovery dealmaking is by no means dead-but it's certainly been practicalized. In the last few months, one good example of a still interesting discovery area--high-throughput structural biology--has seen a flurry of dealmaking. But it's not yet frequent or rich enough to justify the venture valuations originally applied to them. And the deals themselves reflect the results-oriented conservatism of Big Pharma buyers.
You may also be interested in...
The Right Place and Time for Applied Molecular Evolution
Applied Molecular Evolution is a company seemingly in the right place, with the right technology, at the right time--a beneficiary of Big Pharma's current search for ways to short-cut the discovery process. In the last three months, AME received initial product development milestones from two deals and filed an IND on its own lead product candidate, an improved version of Remicade. Those events validated its technology for optimizing proteins-enough so that partner Eli Lilly decided to buy the firm outright.
The Right Place and Time for Applied Molecular Evolution
Applied Molecular Evolution is a company seemingly in the right place, with the right technology, at the right time--a beneficiary of Big Pharma's current search for ways to short-cut the discovery process. In the last three months, AME received initial product development milestones from two deals and filed an IND on its own lead product candidate, an improved version of Remicade. Those events validated its technology for optimizing proteins-enough so that partner Eli Lilly decided to buy the firm outright.
Astex's Pyramid Scheme
Astex's latest deal with Schering further distances the firm from infrastructure-heavy structural biology players. Astex hopes that by applying its fragment-based approach to solving key discovery problems among a handful of much sought-after targets-rather than solving many target structures or offering its capability on a service basis-it can sign higher value deals and prevent itself from becoming a victim of the field's commoditization.