Merck Serono SA, Europe's largest biopharmaceutical company, plans to expand its Israeli activity. The company has called on Israeli entrepreneurs and start-ups to collaborate with it through its local R&D center, Inter Lab Ltd.
Merck Serono is a unit of Merck KGaA (XETRA: MRGG). Merck Serono believes that it is the ideal partner of choice for the development of new drugs and that it has a proven track record of developing blockbuster drugs.
Inter-Lab general manager Ms Regine Shevach said "Israeli science has a special zest to it, one which we are thrilled to encounter time and time again. Together with Merck Serono, this special zest can create the next blockbuster drug. We are reaching out and looking for unique collaborations, also from the very early stages of drug development. In our R&D center in Yavne, we offer the best team of scientists using the most advanced laboratories in Israel.
"The biggest challenge today is developing a commercial drug from a molecule in its early stages of development. We are among the very few that posses the professional know-how in the development of biotechnological drugs, and part of a larger company that is a leader in all the stages of drug development. Merck Serono has a long standing commitment to Israel, which commenced over 30 years ago."
In the call to entrepreneurs, Merck Serono says that it wants to expand its drug pipeline in a range of fields, including autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, oncology, and endocrinology. It also wants to apply new technologies to expand its drug discovery activity.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 15, 2010
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