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BioPontis Alliance announces agreement with Merck in translational drug research

New York NY, Dec. 14, 2010 - BioPontis Alliance, LLC announced today that it has entered into an innovative strategic agreement with Merck (known outside the US and Canada as MSD) designed to bridge the gap between early academic discovery science and the development of medicines and technologies that impact human health. The announcement was made at the prestigious Partnering For Cures Conference that is convened annually for the purpose of forging strategic cross-sector collaborations.

BioPontis Alliance LLC, is a first-in-kind hybrid investment fund and scientific development company. The company selects promising scientific inventions from academic laboratories, invests in and directly develops a portfolio of technologies that address unmet medical needs in cancer, infectious and neurological diseases. BioPontis Alliance has access to a deep source of discovery science through its uniquely partnered consortium of leading universities and research institutions. BioPontis has previously disclosed the University Alliance Partners of New York University, Columbia University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and University of Florida. A seventh University member will be announced tomorrow, according to representatives of BioPontis Alliance.

"At Merck we are committed to working with our partners to maximize the potential of scientific discoveries relevant to the development of new drug therapies," said David Nicholson, senior vice president and Head, Worldwide Licensing and Knowledge Management at Merck. "We look forward to working with BioPontis Alliance’s scientific managers to apply our translational medicine expertise in expediting the advancement of early innovative drug candidates and technologies with a focus on improving the lives of the patients that need them.”

Under the agreement, Merck will provide BioPontis Alliance with guidance on Merck product portfolio priorities, thereby ensuring alignment of market demand with the discovery science that BioPontis Alliance will invest in. Merck will also provide BioPontis Alliance with scientific and medical counsel on product development strategy, design of experiments, selection of technical development tools and resources, and final development milestone objectives. These close engagements and consultations will provide guidance for BioPontis in developing new therapies that are aligned with the product pipeline needs of Merck, while maintaining control over its strategy and options for licensing to the industry generally. The agreement provides Merck with informed access to license evaluated therapeutic technologies.

“We have created a new continuum linking discovery science to product developers with the innovative translational investment and development capability of BioPontis Alliance,” said Barbara Handelin, PhD, President, BioPontis Alliance. “It is evident that in order to improve productivity and to ensure that therapies that truly impact human health are developed, the innovation foundation of the biomedical industry needs to change. BioPontis Alliance represents a new paradigm that ties the need for shared scientific knowledge and development to the entrepreneurial and intellectual property interests of all contributors. ”

About BioPontis Alliance LLC

BioPontis Alliance LLC, is an operating biomedical company created in 2009 to address a growing crisis in how the biopharmaceutical industry sources the refined validated scientific basis for its innovative therapeutic products. BioPontis Alliance operates out of both the Research Triangle Park region and the Mid-Atlantic (Philadelphia), homes to the core of the biopharmaceutical industry and research expertise. BioPontis Alliance is committed to changing legacy structures and methods that have limited the productivity of the biomedical research engine in improving healthcare outcomes with important scientific discoveries.

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