BASF-Knoll Seeks Pharma Research Partner

Germany's BASF, which includes the Knoll pharmaceutical group and the recently-acquired Boots drug business (Marketletters passim), is to intensify its pharmaceutical R&D, according to Knoll AG's head of research, Erich Schlick, and is looking to cooperate with a number of potential partners.

Dr Schlick said that apart from the usual cooperation with universities, alliances with other drug and genetic engineering companies would be sought. The group's drug sector sales expanded last year from 2 billion Deutschemarks to around 3 billion marks ($2.07 billion) following the acquisition of the UK Boots business; 1995 annual results are scheduled to be released in the next few weeks.

The group spent 15% of total sales on R&D last year, and of the 27 drug development projects in hand at present, five are in the regulatory approval phase and 12 are at an advanced stage of clinical trials. A number of products are being stron-gly developed, including Boots' antiobes-ity treatment sibutramine, the fibrinogen-lowering agent ancrod, MAK-195-F (a monoclonal antibody for septic shock), trandolapril and the combination drug Tarka (verapamil and trandolapril).