Academic-Corporate Partnering:
Pitching to Industry
Abhijit (Jit) Banerjee, Ph.D., MBA
Director of Business Development
Office of Technology Transfer & Business Development
banerjea@ohsu.edu | 503-346-0360
Today’s Objectives:
 Challenges in the Pharma Industry
 Academic-industry partnering
 Partner selection and measure of success
 Collaboration Preparedness for Academic Institutes
 Organization
 Faculty
 Expectation

How we can help
2
Critical Time in the Pharma Industry
• Government Pressure
– More Expensive Regulatory Process
• Enormous Market Pressures
– Shorter Practical Exclusivity
– Faster Generic Substitution
– Governments Reducing Reimbursement
• Industry Criticized as “Too Profitable”
• Reduced R&D Expenditure; “Lay off”; Selected
Areas of Investments
• Patents and Intellectual Property Under Assault
3
Drug Development: Risky Business
1 Product
# Projects
100 Projects
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
25%
60%
25%
1
Ideas
2
3
4
5
25%
>12 years
 Leads  Dev. Candidates  Ph2a Clin.  Products
4
What Is Pharma Looking For And
Why?
Pharma Needs “New”
Fill Pipeline
 Molecules
 Targets
 Mechanisms
of Action
 Methods,
technology, and
models
 Find new class of
drugs/biologics
 Enter areas where
there are unmet needs
Manage attrition of
compounds
 Early prediction
 Differentiation
 Lowering risks
5
Change in Scenario
 Increase in Pharma-academic partnership
 Larger $$ investment for strategic partnerships
 Risk and Reward Sharing
 Key deliverables
 Gaining popularity within Pharma: an open, precompetitive environment with academic institutes
 Shared Goals: Academic and Industry both receptive to
scientists embedded in each other’s environment
 IP and revenue sharing negotiations: less stringent and
aimed at a practical approach
6
Value of Academic Partnership
Academic faculty make long-term, risky commitments
toward understanding the basic biological principals
Academic Institutes often have unique resources
that often play critical roles in drug discovery programs
Academic Centers are places where rare/orphan diseases
and neglected diseases are extensively studied
7
Common Paths to Academic-Corporate
Partnerships
 Pharma companies collaborates directly with faculty who may
have certain unique expertise, resources
 Faculty submits either solicited and unsolicited proposal
Internal evaluation and selection
 Organization to Organization broad strategic relationship
involving multiple faculty and projects
 Consortiums of pharma and/or academic organizations
8
Academic-Corporate Partnerships
– Drivers
Primary Driver: SCIENCE. Not Business. Not $$.
Science
Initial Contact
Business
Science Business Business
Due Diligence
Business
Negotiation
Science
Agreement
Legal
Secondary Driver: Proper Content.
Not One Size Fits All.
Tertiary Driver: The Relationship.
It’s Important to develop.
9
Attributes of Selection: Example Pfizer
How does Pfizer select partners?
 R &D and Commercial Strength
 Straight-forward in interaction
 Experienced deal makers
 Transparent process
 Decision makers are accessible
 Mutual trust throughout the relationship
 Conflicts get resolved openly and fairly
 Good project management
10
Attributes of Selection: Example Pfizer
How does Pfizer select the opportunity?
 Impact on Pfizer goals
 Commercial importance
 Appeal of a mechanism
 Strategic relevance
 Therapeutic scope
 Impact on our own resources
 Cost of not-doing
 Strength of the partner
11
Measure of Successful Collaborations:
Example Pfizer
How to measure
success?
How to ensure
success? Key
factors






 Research Plan
 Steering Committee
 Project Management
 Communication
 Deliverables met in time
 Shared goals &
responsibilities
12
New leads or targets
Efficiency and Speed
Impact
Tools/technologies
Cost
Cultural changes
Review & Approval Process: Example
Pfizer
License or Collaboration
<$500K (signed)
<$1MM (signed)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Initial review
1st meeting
2nd meeting
Review by scientific management
3rd-5th meetings (Business)
Review executive committee
Millions $ (signed)
13
Academic Collaborations in 2012
Drug
Delivery
Get to Full
Development
Get the
Candidate
Get the
Screen
Get the
Lead
Get the
Function
Get the
Gene/Target
14
 Speed
 Cost
Competition and Preparedness
 Like OHSU, other
universities are trying
to develop a pharma
relationship
 How do we
differentiate
ourselves from
others ?
 Hence there is
competition
 This is Key
 Need
Organizational
preparedness
 Change in faculty
mindset
 Need to align with
industry - LTR
15
Collaboration Preparedness
Organization
Faculty
 Organizational willingness, nimbleness,
readiness and commitment
 Industry collaboration is very different
from NIH grants; think in terms of industry
 Cultural shift needed – openness and
trust
 Driven by great science and resources
available
 Deploy resources to attract industry
 Selection process for collaboration often
long and not transparent – patience is a
must
 Able to commit and deploy major
resources to translational programs
 Long term relationship building is key
 Developing trust and good working
relationship is key
 Be prepared for multiple visits by
Pharma – Patience is needed
 Cultural shift needed – industry
collaboration is not bad
 Discuss with Pharma - Enter into
consortium based collaborations
 Good science with
industry collaboration possible
16
How Academic Institutes Can Prepare
 Think Outside the Box
o Be flexible, consider different models of partnerships
 The World is Flat
o Consider globally
 Know your Assets
o Bundle and customize asset portfolios
 Needs of Industry are Different
o Customize based on industry need
 Solution-Based Approach
o Focus on areas where there is organizational strength
17
Faculty Preparedness: Basic things to avoid
when making a pitch
Assumption
 Scientists from industry are not aware of your field/work
 Teaching them basic biology/chemistry
 There are no other technologies available like yours
Presentation
 Not having a clear idea about presentation
 Digressing from your presentation
 Not telling the industry representatives about the market and how many
patients will be cured and bring X $$ revenue
Expectation
 Often, the first meeting is non-confidential, don’t insist on a CDA
 Don’t expect they will like your proposal/pitch right away
 Give me your compound and I 18
can cure “male pattern baldness”
Faculty Preparedness: Basic things to
address when making a pitch
Relevance
 Your idea must have clinical relevance
 Address an unmet need
Value
 What is your value proposition?
 Do you have unique models, capabilities, expertise novel targets, MOA?
 Can you do “Phase 0” - looking at a drug effect in small patient population?
 What can you do to help improve quantitative translation – statistical,
biological, clinical, commercial?
Preparation
 Look at the company website to get information about funding, research &
clinical programs
 Be ready for a in-depth scientific discussion if you are under a CDA
19
What to Expect
 70-80% of the RFA’s submitted or pitches made don’t get
funded by Pharma
 Often times Pharma provides feedback to why it was not funded
– includes options for re-submission with changes
 Also the first submissions to RFA are short, hence often
difficult to articulate your story
 No idea is “crazy” since lot of companies are looking for
innovative ideas and push new frontiers
 What is most important and why would they be interested?
 It is time consuming and will require multiple visits and due
diligence
20
A Few Simple Tips
 When TTBD contacts you with a pharma prospect, please be flexible,
respond and try to participate
 Maintain regular contact with your scientific counterpart within the
industry
 Scientists from Pharma are in general helpful and have lot of contacts,
tools, and resources that can help your program
 When you are in a scientific meeting – contact and engage industry
scientists in a non-confidential discussion over beer/coffee
 Establish long term relationships so your industry partner is your
scientific champion
 Remember when pharma is visiting multiple times– they are not only
doing due diligence on science but checking to see if they have found
the right partner
21
How to Remain in the Game
Your goal:
Reduce attrition and prolong survival of the opportunity within
the review process
Pitch the opportunity when it’s READY
Focus your presentation to the appropriate team; scientific or
business
Pitching to Pharma is a learning process – don’t get frustrated
22
Examples of OHSU Collaboration
Organizations
Collaboration
Intel-OHSU
Strategic Relation, Organization to
Organization
Pfizer-OHSU
Resource and Expertise based
Novo Nordisk-OHSU-Monash
Strategic Relation, Organization to
Organization
Bayer-OHSU
Resource and Expertise based
J&J - OHSU
Resource and Expertise based
Medtronic-KCVI/OHSU
Strategic Relation, Organization to
Organization
Cepheid-KCI/OHSU
Strategic Relation, Organization to
Organization
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How We Can Help
 TTBD periodically sends out Request for Proposals (RFAs)
solicited by different Pharma companies
 TTBD encourages you to look at websites of Pharma companies
like GSK, Lilly, Merck, Pfizer etc. and look at RFA submission criteria,
procedure and areas of interest
 Contact TTBD if you plan to submit a proposal and need guidance
 When Pharma companies are visiting OHSU and you are
requested to make a presentation – Please participate
 TTBD encourages you to do practice pitches with us to help make
better presentations
24
Thank You
Q&A
25