BayBio, working closely with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), qualified 20 companies for one-on-one meetings with the disease foundation on February 7. Onyx Pharmaceuticals sponsored the year’s first BayBio Partnering Day.
More than 60 bioscience executives attended the morning reception with LLS’s Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP) team.
LLS leadership networked with BayBio members in the morning session
With an annual alliance budget of $20M, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP) past investments range from $150K to $12.5M in a form of milestone payments. LLS is actively seeking to build business alliances with companies that have oncology, inflammation, anti-infective and cancer supportive care or similar assets with the potential to change the standard of care for blood cancer patients.
BayBio qualified companies met one-on-one with the LLS TAP team.
As part of the program, LLS provided guidance and insight into its collaboration strategy.
Ideal partners will have therapeutics or diagnostics that target novel mechanisms of action and can provide the scientific rationale for pursuing the blood cancer space, well-designed clinical regulatory strategy and future plan. Additionally, LLS looks for companies in late-preclinical (the last of IND enabling studies), or in clinical development.
BayBio member Kinemed at the beginning of the firm’s one-on-one with LLS.
LLS recognizes that many companies pursuing solid tumor indications have assets that may be of value in the blood cancer space, but for financial or strategic reasons are not exploring blood cancer indications. These companies and assets are of interest to LLS as the role for LLS is to broaden the opportunities for drug development for blood cancers.
LLS cost shares with companies along an agreed upon timeline, with milestones and deliverables, tranches it’s funding accordingly, and negotiates a fair return on its investment should the asset be successfully developed for patients.TAP is more likely to fund projects that will potentially net key results that will enable a company to partner or raise additional funding to complete the testing, registration and marketing of new therapies or diagnostics for a blood cancer indication.
LLS brings significant expertise from its team of former biotech and pharma drug development professionals and its patient services department to assist with information about trials and accrual of patients. The LLS has been chosen as a partner of choice by more than 20 alliance partners that have participated in TAP since 2007.
Previous BayBio Pharma Partnering Days:
