Pfizer signs universities deal
pharmafile | May 12, 2014 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, Pfizer, academics, rare diseases
Pfizer has signed a five-year research deal with several top British universities to hunt for new treatments for rare disease.
The announcement of the project, reported by Reuters, comes at an interesting time for the US pharma group.
There has been vocal opposition from the UK research community to Pfizer’s £63 billion bid for AstraZeneca, with scientists worried that a takeover would have a negative impact on the UK’s R&D capabilities.
Cambridge University, Imperial College London, King’s College London, Queen Mary University London, University College London and Oxford University are the institutions involved.
Reuters says Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s head of research, says that the agreement “highlighted the vital role of collaboration between industry and academia in driving the development of new medicines.”
Pfizer is keen to present itself as a group which takes research seriously, to counter some of the criticism it has faced since thrusting itself into the spotlight with its battle for AstraZeneca.
In particular it will attempt to rebut the suggestion that its interest in the Anglo-Swedish company stems from a desire to domicile itself in the UK and receive large tax cuts courtesy of the UK’s Patent Box.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has already questioned Pfizer’s ‘track record’ in the UK: the company was hauled in front of a House of Commons committee in 2011 after its decision to axe its own main European R&D site in Sandwich, Kent with hundreds of job cuts.
Dolsten and his boss Ian Read, chief executive of Pfizer, will face questions from MPs on two different select committees on Tuesday and Wednesday this week about the AstraZeneca bid.
In a separate move, the House of Commons business, innovation and skills select committee is to hold a full inquiry into collaboration between businesses and academia in all fields.
It will look at the strengths and weaknesses of business-university collaboration in the UK and the UK’s performance against international comparators.
Among its terms of reference is a look at how well the Catapult Centre model of collaboration works and an exploration of what areas of research it should focus on in future.
Adam Hill
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