BioTransplant JV with Novartis renamed

Drug major Novartis of Switzerland says that the US joint venture it setup last year with BioTransplant (Marketletter October 2, 2000), which will focus on xenotransplantation research, has now been renamed Immerge BioTherapeutics.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the JV will be owned 67% by Novartis and 33% by BioTransplant and, in return for contributing its technology and unspecified financial support, the Basel-based major will retain the rights to commercialization of research from the new company. For its part, BioTransplant will get royalty payments from Novartis' product sales and will independently continue with its work on tolerance induction in allotransplantation.

JV to become leader in xenotransplant field