PharmaTelevision - Merck & Co.: Exclusive Interview

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Video title: Merck & Co.: Exclusive Interview

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In this exclusive interview, live from San Francisco, Fintan Walton talks to Barbara Yanni, Vice President and Chief Licensing Officer at Merck & Co. Although Merck is often perceived as being internally focused and has, historically at least, not been known for doing deals, the company is now fully committed to partnering. Its pipeline is strong, with seven compounds in Phase III, of which three were in-licensed during 2007. Barbara and Fintan discuss the methods that Merck uses to source new licensing opportunities, how it competes with other big pharmas and how its alliances are managed. They also look ahead to what 2008 is likely to bring to the pharma/biotech industry.

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The role of partnering within Merck & Co organization and progress in the pipeline

Fintan Walton:

Welcome to PharmaVentures Business Review brought to you by PharmaTelevision the world's first on demand pharmaceutical television channel. We are here in San Francisco recording a series of interviews at the annual JP Morgan Conference. This conference was originally run by the famous Hambrecht and Quist Bank and is one of the oldest events in biotechnology. Today thousands to send from around the US but also from around the world into San Francisco to do financial deals and recently it's also become an important partnering event. I hope you'll enjoy the series of interviews we've done from some of the key companies attending this conference. Hello and welcome to PharmaVentures Business Review here in San Francisco. On this show today I have Barbara Yanni, who is Vice President and Chief Licensing Officer at Merck , welcome to the show.

Barbara Yanni:

Thank you very much Fintan Walton.

Fintan Walton:

Barbara Yanni, you are clearly one of the key people within the Merck organization who is responsible for bringing in licensing deals and performing the partnering activities at Merck , what is the role of partnering within the Merck organization?

Barbara Yanni:

Well Fintan Walton, partnering is critical to Merck it's critical to our success to our growth in the pipeline we believe firmly in having an inter goal approach to our scientific efforts such that we are looking for the best programs from both internally at Merck and also externally from potential partners whether they be biotech companies mid size pharma companies where ever we find excellent science.

Fintan Walton:

Because when for any major pharmaceutical company partner is important for those companies going forward but clearly there you require the infrastructure the culture within the organization too, do you think Merck has achieved that?

Full video transcripts are available with PharmaTelevision Premium Content. Click here to buy a subscription or sign up for a 14 day free trial.

Fintan Walton

Dr Fintan Walton is the Founder and CEO of PharmaVentures . After completing his doctoral research on the genetics of cell proliferation at the University of Michigan(US)and Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland), Dr Walton gained broad commercial experience in biotechnology in management positions at Bass and Celltech plc (1982-1992).

Barbara Yanni

Vice President and Chief Licensing Officer

Barbara Yanni is Vice President and Chief Licensing Officer of Merck & Co . After joining the company in 1985 as Domestic Tax Counsel, she now leads the Corporate Licensing group responsible for negotiating agreements to acquire compounds, programmes and new technologies. Before joining Corporate Licensing, Barbara Yanni was Executive Director of Corporate Development at Merck , where she negotiated acquisitions, divestitures and other business arrangements. She graduated from Stanford Law School and Wellesley College, and holds a Masters of Law in Taxation from New York University.

PharmaVentures

PharmaVentures is a corporate finance and transactions advisory firm that has served hundreds of clients worldwide in relation to their strategic deal making in the pharmaceutical, life science and healthcare sectors. Our key offerings include: Transactions / deal negotiations; Product / technology valuations; Deal term advice; Due diligence & expert reports; Strategy formulation; Alliance management; and Expert opinion for litigation/arbitration cases. PharmaVentures provides the global expertise to ensure our clients generate the highest possible return on investment from all their deal making activities. We have experience of all therapeutic areas and can offer advice on both product and technology commercialisation.

Merck & Co

Merck & Co is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company. Established in 1891, Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs. Today, Merck has more new medicines and product candidates in its pipeline than at any other time in its history. Current research and development focuses on a range of therapeutic areas, including arthritis, diabetes, infectious disease and neurological disorders.