When it comes to the pharmaceutical world, few things are more important than current and future relationships with other companies and organizations. For emerging companies, partnerships are often critical, helping to drive research and build portfolios. On the other hand, future potential relationships, in the form of takeovers or the sale of licensing rights, can represent a company's primary payoff for all of its hard work. An example of such a payoff is Biogen Idec's recent agreement to pay Elan Corp. a whopping $3.25 billion for its stake in the multiple sclerosis medicine Tysabri. Flush with the new money, Elan is now able to itself go hunting for possible acquisitions.
None of this is lost on VistaGen Therapeutics, a California-based developer of advanced stem cell technologies designed to provide superior drug testing options for pharmaceutical companies, allowing drug candidates that were previously shelved due to toxicity issues to be economically rescued. The company's goal is to use the technology to generate a diverse drug pipeline consisting of new, proprietary, small molecule variants (Drug Rescue Variants) of once-promising drug candidates. The market potential is unlimited.
On the research and development side, VistaGen has surrounded itself with a network of successful partnerships, accelerating technological development and also establishing key contacts throughout the industry.
Partnerships with commercial entities include the following:
• Cato Research, a contract research organization, provides regulatory and drug development expertise and also acts as a source of potential drug rescue candidates and collaborations.
• ChanTest provides services that range from early functional screens for profiling drug candidates or ranking within profiles during the drug-discovery process - to a complete set of in vitro GLP service products for cardiac risk assessment.
• NuPotential, LLC, addresses the high-growth cell therapeutics market by developing new systems for evaluating and directing human cell reprogramming.
• Synterys is a medicinal chemistry and collaborative drug discovery provider focused on the needs of virtual and small drug discovery companies.
• TET Systems offers technology that provides efficient, precise, and reversible control over both timing and level of gene expression in eukaryotic cells.
For additional information on these and other partnerships, visit the company's website at www.VistaGen.com
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