Monday, 10 September 2007
Select Joint Ventures, Partnerships, and Alliances with Big Pharma
Abbott and Millennium – In March 2001 Abbott and Millennium formed a strategic alliance for the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs and diagnostics in the area of obesity and diabetes. This alliance also provided for non-exclusive technology transfer and the co-development of technology tools. According to Millennium's 2001 SEC filing, the deal includes an investment by Abbott of $250 million in Millennium's common stock. http://sec.edgar-online.com/2001/03/15/0000912057-01-007626/Section2.asp
Select Joint ventures, Partnerships and Alliances with Small Pharma
Abbott and Artus GmbH – Abbott and Artus are involved in a worldwide marketing and distribution agreement for the first commercial test to detect a the possible cause of SARS.
Abbott Laboratories has a worldwide marketing and distribution agreement with German-based Artus GmbH for the first commercial test to detect a form of the coronavirus suspected of causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). According to the Abbott strategic alliances page, "Under the agreement, Artus manufactures the test and after appropriate regulatory approvals Abbott markets and distributes it initially for use on the Roche LightCycler® thermal cycler system in the U.S., Canada, Germany, the U.K. and Austria, supplementing Artus' existing distribution agreements." http://www.abbottdiagnostics.com/About_Us/Alliances.cfm
According to a PRNewswire report, this agreement involves Abbott's previous alliances with Celera, Tecan, and Promega corporation. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-28-2003/0002046439&EDATE=
Abbott and Celera – are involved in "a long-term strategic alliance to develop, manufacture and market a broad range of in vitro molecular diagnostics products for disease detection, disease progression monitoring and therapy selection…Celera Diagnostics will focus primarily on genetic marker discovery, new marker validation and assay development. Abbott will focus on product development, sales and marketing — serving as the worldwide distributor for most products developed by the alliance." http://www.abbottdiagnostics.com/About_Us/Alliances.cfm
The East Bay Business Times notes that, "The companies estimate that the market for molecular-based diagnostic tests — now at about $1 billion — is growing by 25 percent a year, the diagnostic industry's highest growth rate" and that the two companies will divide expenses and profits evenly. http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2002/07/01/story6.html
Abbott and MedImmune – In 1997, MedImmune and Abbott entered into a co-promotion agreement for the promotion of Synagis® (palivizumab) in the United States. According to MedImmune's SEC filing, "Under the terms of the co-promotion agreement, MedImmune is required to pay Abbott an increasing percentage of net domestic sales based on achieving certain sales thresholds over the annual contract year." http://www.secinfo.com/dqW3x.6a.htm
MedImmune's strategic alliances page reports that "MedImmune also entered into an international distribution agreement with Abbott International, an affiliate of Abbott, to distribute Synagis and, if approved, motavizumab (formerly known as Numax®) outside of the United States. Under the terms of the international distribution agreement, the company manufactures and sells Synagis to Abbott at a price based on end-user sales." http://www.medimmune.com/investors/alliances.asp
Abbott and Luminex – "Abbott Laboratories and Luminex Corporation have an agreement which grants Abbott license, supply and distribution rights to Luminex®'s proprietary biological testing technologies. The license agreement grants Abbott a worldwide license under Luminex patents, including Luminex's bead-based xMAP™ technology, for the development of assays and proprietary instruments."
Abbott and Medical Analysis Systems, Inc. – Abbott is involved in a co-marketing agreement with MAS, a Fisher Scientific International company, for a group of assays which includes a test for detecting the West Nile virus in infected mosquito and bird populations.
An Abbott press release states that, "Under the agreement, MAS will manufacture the tests and Abbott will have rights to market the product worldwide." http://www.abbottdiagnostics.com/About_Us/Press_Releases.cfm?pr_yr=2003
Abbott and Promega are involved in a distribution alliance. Promega manufactures nucleic acid extraction products which are distributed by Abbott. The RNA extraction system is used in Abbott's m1000, an automated sample preparation system for molecular diagnostics introduced in 2003.
Abbott and TheraSense, Inc. – TheraSense develops, manufactures and sells easy to use glucose monitoring systems designed to reduce the pain of testing for people with diabetes. The company began selling its first product, the FreeStyle® blood glucose monitoring system, in June 2000. The FreeStyle system has wide distribution in the United States through national retailers including Walgreens, Wal-Mart, CVS, Eckerd and Rite Aid. The TheraSense headquarters and test strip manufacturing facility are located in Alameda, Calif. Additional information about TheraSense is available at www.therasense.com.