US company Oread is seeking to locate Israeli biotechnology companies for which it will conduct R&D on an outsourcing basis at the initial R&D stage. Representatives of the company, which conducts drug R&D on an outsourcing basis, arrived in Israel for this purpose as guests of the BIRD Foundation.
Oread general manager David Kimbrell and Dr. Reid Jilek, one of the company's directors, are holding meetings with RAD-Ramot incubator companies, including Alergen and Adante, as well as with Callgard, Ester Nurosciences, Lapid, fBIT, and others.
Kimbrell told "Globes" that a meeting attended by representatives of all the above-mentioned companies has already been held, and that separate meetings would now be held with each company.
A joint project involving Oread and Jerusalem-based Mindset was approved at the end of last week. The two companies will develop treatment for Alzheimer's disease. According to BIRD Foundation general manager Dov Hershberg, BIRD invested "slightly less than $1 million" in the project.
Oread's outsourcing operations focus on initial R&D. Investment at this stage, which lasts for a year or two, amount to $1-1.5 million. Ordering initial R&D from Oread enables a company - through a relatively small investment and in a relatively short time - to take a strategic decision concerning the feasibility of further developing a drug.
Oread is a privately owned US company with annual sales of $100 million.
The BIRD Foundation said that it is planning to support further cooperation between Israeli biotechnology companies and companies like Oread. Last month BIRD approved $8 million for 11 projects whose overall budget is $31 million. Four of these projects are in the life sciences category.
The BIRD Foundation is a binational Israeli-US foundation for industrial research and development, set up by the US governments in 1997. The foundation offers free assistance in locating strategic partners for setting up projects for the development of joint products.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 3 July, 2000