Pfizer exec: what earlier licensing means for partnering

Big pharma is licensing new projects earlier, and that means prospective partners need to be creative, a Pfizer licensing director has told a Melbourne meeting.

Richard Griffiths, Pfizer's director of licensing development in inflammation and immunology, told a biopartnering session at the 7th World Congress on Inflammation that themove toward in-licensing projects earlier was a "definite trend".

"What this has meant is that the focus, speed and number of compounds evaluated have increased dramatically," he said.

Licensing earlier also leads to higher risk, and also means that the end product is less predictable, Griffiths said. Pfizer therefore looks for creative deal structures and ensures that there is the right mixture of commercial and scientific expertise at every step.

Pfizer is looking for opportunities that complement what the company already has in its portfolio, new areas of interest, technology that reduces attrition, products that address an area of unmet need and that are first or best in their class, said Griffiths. Another major consideration when collaborating is that the companies share a vision, and has a like-minded culture.

The biopartnering session provided a rare opportunity for Australian companies to tout their science on the international scene. It was the first of its kind to be held at a World Congress of Inflammation, and was co-chaired by US-based Gordon Letts, president of the International Association of Inflammation Societies, NitroMed's Bill Selig and Biogen Idec's Doug Margan.

"We thought we'd give it a try and see what the interest level was. If there's enough interest we'll keep doing it. It's the guinea pig," said Letts, who is also senior vice-president of research and development and CSO of NitroMed.

"Association members, particularly in the US, are heavily weighted towards industrial scientists. We thought this would be a good opportunity for young companies with products in the inflammation area to interact, either at a research collaboration level or to form business relationships."

Letts said NitroMed -- which made headlines earlier this year when the FDA approved its drug BiDil for use in African-Americans -- was modelled as a biotech in the US. The company spent a lot of its time in partnering meetings and has "gone to every VC about three times", he said. The session was modelled on this experience.

Eight companies presented at the session, with a total of 10 minutes allowed for a presentation of their science and time for questions from the audience afterwards.

Australian companies that presented were Phylogica (ASX:PYC), Cortical, Phosphagenics (ASX:POH), OBJ (ASX:OBJ), CBio, Allergenix and Cryptopharma. They were joined by Irish biotech Opsona.

Cortical's CEO, Su-Peing Ng, said the session provided "an opportunity to interact with the international pharmaceutical companies that's perfect for us."

She said Cortical had a strong research focus at the conference as well, but the biopartnering session allowed the company to "showcase the potential opportunities in the community".

When asked if she felt the company had achieved its aims by presenting at the session, and attending the conference in general, she said: "It's been an ongoing process. We've certainly managed to garner interest with new companies and also it's been useful for continuing relationships with companies we've already been in discussions with."

Similarly, OBJ's director of operations, Jeff Edwards, said that: "getting ourselves in front of major international companies is a significant challenge for any business."

"This is a much more focused target environment, where all major significant movers and shakers are in the one spot and there should be more of them," he said. "It's nice to be able to talk to these guys and see where the market is going."

After the session, Letts said that the session had achieved everything he wanted. "The level of questions were clearly specialised, the presenters learnt a little bit and got experience, and the overseas people learnt there was a tremendous diversity in the work going on here," he said.

However, he also said that if the session was repeated at future conferences, there may be a need for clearer guidelines -- for example, a stipulation that 50 per cent of presentations had to relate to the company's science.