Sanofi-Aventis establishes strategic alliance with MIT's Center for Biomedical Innovation

In another significant collaboration between the pharmaceutical industry and academia, French drug major Sanofi-Aventis yesterday announced a strategic alliance agreement with the USA's Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Biomedical Innovation, which will be known as the Sanofi-Aventis Biomedical Innovation Program (SABIP).

The goal of the strategic alliance is to advance knowledge in the area of human health through basic and applied research and to promote scientific exchange between MIT and the drugmaker. The alliance provides Sanofi-Aventis with the opportunity to develop therapeutic, diagnostic and prognostic applications based on the discoveries made during the alliance, the company said.

The move comes within a couple of weeks of the announcement by global behemoth Pfizer of a collaboration with Washington University, and one by Germany's Bayer to set up an innovation center in San Francisco (The Pharma Letter May 18). Also, Swiss drug major Roche recently revealed a research collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University that will use stem cell technologies to advance drug discovery in areas of high unmet medical need (TPL February 5).