Big Pharma and VC firms

I have already described that Big Pharma is not interested in innovation process and plain simply simulate (see also here) it's own drug development process. Nevertheless there is sometimes need to fill the pipelines with novel products and Big Pharma just buy the external products. Here we have an articles which nicely illustrates the situation.

Big pharma’s intensified focus on filling its early-stage pipeline follows a feverish few years of trying to gobble up late-stage drug candidates in an effort to get them on the market before many lucrative medicines lose patent protection, and much of their revenue stream, to generics.

This week, Flagship Ventures announced a wide-ranging deal with Merck Research Labs to co-launch an unspecified number of startup companies in any therapeutic area. As part of the deal, Merck made an undisclosed investment in the VC firm’s newest $270 million fund, which closed in January. The deal allows Merck the option of buying a resulting startup, but there is no exclusive deal, so other pharmas could get a crack at them too.

Here we can imagine extremely nice possibilities for the Partisans of Death Valley. In this situation we can clearly state that the knowledge is real power.