"It looks easy to establish alliances, but in reality 70% of partnerships fail. 75% of those remaining are built anew within ten years, and most of those survive. In 80% of the alliances that fail one partner acquires the holdings of the other partner." Given Imaging (GIVN) Chairman Israel Makov reported these figures at the start of the panel discussion on strategic alliances in the life sciences at last week'sPrime Minister's Conference for Export and International Cooperation.
Participants in the panel were Israeli biomedical companies and potential international partners, among them Celgene Corporation one of the world's four largest biotechnological companies. The company's chairman and CEO Dr. Sol Barer made an impassioned call for Israeli companies to propose partnerships with Celgene, mainly in the area of combating cancer and autoimmune diseases. Celgene is currently in an excellent position with $2 billion in cash. Products are not the entire story. "It is important for us to cooperate with small companies in order to preserve our entrepreneurial spirit," he added.
Roche PharmaceuticalsVP Europe, Africa, Middle East and Latin America Dr. Michael Xavier, spoke about his firm's partnership with Genentech, which Roche is incorporating into its activities after acquiring the full holdings in the company. "Genentech leads in cancer products that need our diagnostics business and complement our pharmaceuticals businesses," said Dr. Xavier. He continued that Roche was interested in acquiring companies in the sector to realize Roche's vision of becoming the leader in personally tailored pharmaceuticals. He observed that except for a slight fall in 2008 there has been an ongoing increase in acquisitions of diagnostics companies over the past decade.
Medinol Ltd. CEO Dr. Judith Richter said that in her company's partnerships Medinol focused on working in R&D, designing and producing stents and developing and broadening the product ranges, but was not interested in marketing and conducting clinical trials.
Medinol is best known for its strategic partnership with Boston Scientific, which ended in a well publicized law suit that Medinol won. Medinol currently has a partnership with Johnson & Jonson subsidiary Cordis Corporation and with Olympus. In response to Makov's statement, Dr. Richter said that partnership was not a failure but "a great success," adding, "We have brought excellent products to market. The change came about when Boston Scientific understood that the deal gave us a significant economic upside and they wanted it too." Makov agreed that, "These marriages were excellent for Medinol. The divorces too."
Gamida Cell Ltd. president & CEO Dr. Yael Margolin detailed a partnership with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), which was established with a unique joint venture structure. The venture owns the rights to StemX, a product originating at Gamida Cell, and is responsible for its development. It employs only two full time managers, and takes advantage of various steering committees comprised of representatives from the two companies and representatives of a clinical trial management outsourcing company.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 16, 2008
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