Big Pharma Firms in New Collaboration with Top UK Universities

AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson have joined a joint venture with Imperial Innovations, Cambridge Enterprise and UCL Business, the Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) responsible for commercializing research from Cambridge University, Imperial College London, and University College London (UCL), respectively.    The six partners have committed £40 million ($57 million) to the Apollo Therapeutics Fund, which will be used for early-stage research projects created by the universities that the TTOs represent. According to the group's lawyers, Cooley, the aim is "to advance academic preclinical research to a stage at which it can either be taken forward by one of the industry partners following an internal bidding process or be out-licensed".