The organizers would like to acknowledge the support of the following organizations:
Platinum Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA, is an innovative, global health care leader that is committed to improving health and well-being around the world. Merck discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets vaccines, medicines, and consumer and animal health products designed to help save and improve lives.
The merger of Merck and Schering-Plough in 2009 greatly expanded our combined company's product offerings and created a highly innovative pharmaceutical, vaccine and biologics product line. Today's Merck offers therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, diabetes, cancer, benign prostatic hypertrophy, asthma and allergies, arthritis, pain, migraine, glaucoma, osteoporosis, women's health, infectious diseases (antibiotic, antifungal, and antiviral agents) and vaccines to prevent childhood diseases, human papilloma virus, rotavirus, shingles, and hepatitis A, B and C. Our worldwide sales in 2009 were 27.4 billion.
At today's Merck we're basing our strategy for growth on breakthrough research and development — both internal and external through partnerships. Our newly integrated pipeline is one of the strongest in the industry and our research interests cover a wide range of therapeutic areas and technologies.
Embracing Partnerships
Today's Merck leads the industry in announced deals with biotech partners. We have hundreds of successful collaborations with companies, institutions, academics, and other organizations around the world who share our passion for science. In fact, 63% of Merck's 2009 human health sales were attributable to these alliance products and patents — including some of our biggest blockbusters. In 2009, a year when Merck completed the largest transaction in the Company's history through our merger with Schering-Plough, we entered into 51 significant transactions.
We welcome partnerships in an expanded range of therapeutic areas that address unmet needs for patients, as well as technologies that will enhance the productivity of our research laboratories. We are interested in partnerships at all stages of development -- from earliest discovery, preclinical through late-stage development, and registered and marketed products for regional deals.
A comprehensive list of our interests is available at www.merck.com/licensing and includes: atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity, asthma and COPD, pain, oncology, antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals (HCV and HIV), novel vaccines, Alzheimer’s disease, neurodegeneration, schizophrenia, ophthalmology, osteoporosis, and women's health. For Phase III-ready candidates and beyond, Merck is interested in any therapeutic area. We are also seeking to integrate key product enablers (e.g., biomarkers, diagnostics, devices, and information) into the development of our products.
When you partner with Today's Merck, you will have world-class research and development, regulatory, manufacturing, marketing, and sales resources to ensure commercial success for your discovery. Let's explore how we can combine our strengths with yours, and share our successes together.
Contact Information
To begin a discussion about partnering with Merck, please contact Chief Licensing Officer, Merck & Co., Inc., One Merck Drive, PO Box 100, Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889 USA; Tel: (908) 423-4350; Fax: (908) 735-1201. Please provide a brief, non-confidential overview of your discovery with sufficient data to allow a preliminary scientific review.
Visit us at www.merck.com/licensing
Bronze Sponsors
Aptar Pharma is the segment within the Aptargroup family dedicated to the pharmaceutical market. We create innovative drug delivery systems that meet the evolving needs of biotechnology, healthcare and pharmaceutical companies around the world.
Aptar Pharma is market driven with a strong focus on specific therapeutic areas.
Aptar Pharma Consumer Health Care division offers dispensing solutions adapted to over-the-counter medications while the Prescription division specializes in drug delivery solutions specific to physician-prescribed medicines (i.e. vaccines).
Aptar Pharma provides our customers with a wide range of off-the-shelf and bespoke proprietary drug delivery technologies and services backed by years of proven expertise.
Our manufacturing facilities are located in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Congers (NY, U.S.A.), Eigeltingen (Germany), Lugano (Switzerland), Le Vaudreuil and Val-de-Reuil (France) and Suzhou (near Shanghai, R.O.C.).
Approximately 6% of Aptar Pharma’s annual turnover is dedicated to research, development and industrialization of novel products. Our R&D and Marketing staff work closely together in a global market-focused team of 200 people dedicated to satisfying customer needs.
Aptar Pharma R&D centres of excellence are located in Eigeltingen (Germany), Lugano (Switzerland), Le Vaudreuil and Val-de-Reuil (France).
Not only our R&D organizations have been continuously expanding but they have forged strong and sustainable links with a network of partners, which include academia, contract research as well as manufacturing organizations, inventors, design, market research and industrial consulting companies and preferred suppliers.
Aptar Pharma key differentiators are highlighted by a deep market understanding, high quality products, processes and services, specialized R&D capabilities and laboratory services, experienced regulatory expertise and a unique fully integrated in-house elastomer technology.
Aptar Pharma offers a wide range of devices suited for intranasal vaccination. For liquids it ranges from so called unitdose systems, were the device contains one or two sprays for intranasal or sublingual administration to cost-effective multi-dose solutions. Precious options for the future are dry powder devices for intranasal administration. The Unitdose Powder is an “active” device for a single intranasal delivery but also a “passive” Bidose Powder system is available. The devices were developed using our long experience in nasal drug delivery. They provide excellent and reproducible spray performance, are easy to handle, and need very low overfill which means the optimized dead space will save vaccine.
For further information: www.aptar.com
Covance, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive drug development services companies with global operations in more than 20 countries and more than 9,600 employees worldwide. Driven by a commitment to scientific, operational and service excellence, we help sponsors accomplish all of their drug development goals – from preclinical through commercialization, including:
- Proving early safety to support filing an IND/CTA
- Conducting first in human studies
- Conducting proof of concept studies
- Proving clinical safety and efficacy
- Filing for regulatory approval
- Launching a drug
- Ensuring patient safety and access
- Managing risk
With a strategic focus on outstanding service quality, along with a diverse portfolio of preclinical, clinical development and commercialization service offerings, Covance is a compelling choice as a strategic partner. Our streamlined approach to drug development means high quality, error-free data designed to help bring your drug to market as quickly, safely and cost-effectively as possible. We focus on meeting sponsors’ timelines, delivering high-quality, error-free data, and providing exceptional customer service to successfully advance compounds through the drug development continuum.
Managing more than 15,000 clinical trial protocols in 100 countries on 6 continents, Covance provides the experience and exceptional customer service to advance your compound along the drug development continuum. Worldwide, Covance provides the following drug development services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies of all sizes:
- Research Products
- Antibody Services
- Vaccine Services
- Biomarker Services
- Nonclinical Development Services
- Clinical Pharmacology Services
- Cardiac Safety Services (In partnership with eResearchTechnology)
- Central Laboratory Services
- Local Laboratory Services
- Clinical Development Services
- Interactive Voice and Web Response Services
- Risk Management Services
- Call Center Services
- Outcomes Research & Consulting Services
For more information, please visit www.covance.com
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, is the largest company in the world entirely dedicated to human vaccines.
Sanofi Pasteur offers the broadest range of vaccines, providing protection against 20 infectious diseases. We distribute more than 1.6 billion doses of vaccine per year, making it possible to immunize more than 500 million people worldwide.
Every day, the company invests more than EUR 1 million in research and development. The company's heritage, to create vaccines that protect life, dates back more than a century.
Our vision is a world in which no one suffers or dies from a vaccine-preventable disease.
Our mission is to protect and improve human health worldwide by providing superior, innovative vaccines for the prevention and treatment of disease, playing an active role in the immunization community.
To achieve our vision, we rely on cooperation, innovation and education. Informing the public about the burden of disease and the true value of vaccines will help maintain and develop greater immunization coverage and as a result, save lives.
For more information, please visit: www.sanofipasteur.com or www.sanofipasteur.us
The Sealy Center for Vaccine Development (SCVD) was inaugurated in December, 2001. With 69 faculty members, the center incorporates the expertise of more than 100 cutting- edge research programs currently at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). The faculty and staff of the SCVD strive to create, perfect and promote the most effective and safest disease prevention strategies. In this effort, the center will carry on the proud tradition of medical research and discovery that has been a hallmark of UTMB since its beginning.
The center fosters the highest quality collaborative and programmatic research and facilitates the translation of laboratory findings to prevention of infectious diseases in the community. Specific examples of diseases and pathogens for which vaccine development research and/or clinical trials are being conducted include: parasitic diseases (malaria, cutaneous and visceral leishmaniases, Trypanosoma cruzi), respiratory diseases (including anthrax, tuberculosis, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus), flaviviruses (including dengue), sexually transmitted diseases (including genital herpes, papillomavirus, and gonorrhea), rickettsial organisms (including Rickettsia and Ehrlichia spp.), hemorrhagic fevers (such as Ebola, Marburg, and Rift Valley fever), and enteric bacteria (such as H. pylori and E. coli). Members of the center also examine influences on vaccine acceptance and uptake, and address issues relevant to the development of public policies governing health care. In addition, the center facilitates education and training in vaccinology for graduate students and physicians.
UTMB’s SCVD is a comprehensive vaccine center that develops and supports multidisciplinary programs in:
- Discovery
- Basic and applied research/preclinical development
- Clinical trials/clinical research
- Public health policy
- Community outreach
- Education and training
Our mission is to improve human health by:
- Conducting research focused on the development and use of vaccines
- Developing public policy and education programs to foster vaccine acceptance
- Training investigators in the field of vaccine research
For further information visit www.utmb.edu/scvd
