Dive Brief:
- HD Biosciences Ltd. In Shanghai, China and the Marshall Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (MIIR) are collaborating to develop anti-cancer drugs.
- The partners will share the costs and risks associated with commercialization of the new products. IP will be jointly owned.
- The goal for HD Biosciences is to take the lead compounds discovered at Marshall University and bring them into the clinical development process. In addition, researchers at MIRR are well apprised of the FDA approval process, while HD Biosciences has a large presence and distribution network in the market in China.
Dive Insight:
Unlike many situations in which the pharma company holds all rights and takes most of the financial risks, MIIR and HD Biosciences will share costs, risks and IP. According to Dr. Zijian Xie, director, MIIR, “Normally, it would take tens of millions of dollars and as long as a decade to translate the technology MIIR and the school of medicine have developed over the last several years into viable drug candidates. This joint effort with HD Biosciences will significantly shorten the process because of their expertise in drug discovery, and ultimately will reduce the risk for all the partners.”