California-based Dren Bio and Pfizer partnered on a deal valued at more than $1 billion to discover and develop therapeutic bispecific antibodies for select oncology targets.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the incredible power of collaboration in the life science industry. About 40 percent of Pfizer’s portfolio was realized through partnerships, and the pharma giant announced three more collaborative deals on January 10.

Merck flag

Vancouver, Wash.-based Absci Corporation inked a research pact with Merck. Absci will leverage the company’s Bionic Protein non-standard amino acid technology and its artificial intelligence-powered integrated Drug Creation Platform to create enzymes to meet Merck’s biomanufacturing applications.

French drugmaker Sanofi SA is partnering with British AI firm Exscientia Plc to develop up to 15 drug candidates across oncology and immunology, in a deal worth up to $5.2 billion in milestone payments, the two companies said on January 7.

Amgen sign Thousand Oaks California

Amgen and Generate Biomedicines inked a research partnership to discover and develop protein therapeutics for five clinical targets.

Eli Lilly acquired exclusive rights to a technology from Canada-based Entos Pharmaceuticals that the Indianapolis-based company believes will boost the development of nucleic acid therapeutics that target the central and peripheral nervous systems.

Ovid Therapeutics has partnered with AstraZeneca for exclusive access to a library of early-stage small molecules that target the KCC2 transporter, including OV350 — the lead candidate. 

Horizon Therapeutics

Alpine Immune Sciences and Ireland’s Horizon Therapeutics forged a licensing and collaborative research and development agreement valued at up to $1.5 billion to generate up to four preclinical candidates for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Novartis dropped out of the company’s deal to fund Mesoblast’s floundering COVID-19 treatment.

AstraZeneca

Samsung Biologics Co. Ltd. said on December 13 the company would continue its partnership with AstraZeneca Plc on manufacturing biopharmaceuticals.