Merck & Co and China's BGI confirm strategic collaboration on biomarkers and genomic technologies

Under a previously-signed statement of intent, US drugs giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK), and China-based BGI (formerly the Beijing Genomics Institute), the world’s largest genomics center, have established a collaboration to focus on the discovery and development of biomarkers and genomic technologies (The Pharma Letter September 17, 2010). Under the agreement scientists from Merck and BGI will work closely together to identify and characterize biomarkers with an emphasis on drug discovery, drug development and diagnostics applications across a wide range of therapeutic areas.

"This strategic collaboration combines BGI's genomic sequencing and analytic capabilities with Merck's expertise and experience in drug development," said Jeffrey Chodakewitz, vice president, Late Stage Development, at Merck Research Laboratories, noting that, "by working together, we hope to apply BGI's comprehensive next-gen sequencing solutions to develop important new tools to aid drug development and enable effective tailoring of medicines to those patients most likely to respond."

Both partners to propose projects