Pierre Fabre forms alliance with Millenia

Pierre Fabre, France's second-largest independent pharmaceutical company, and Millenia Hope Biopharma, the Canadian subsidiary of Millenia Hope, say they have "finalized an important partnership."

The Pierre Fabre Group, a world leader in the discovery, development and commercialization of plant-derived drugs and dermo-cosmetic products, has not disclosed the focus of this collaboration, though MHB specializes in a similar area, with an infrastructure and library of phytochemicals geared towards the production of new plant-derived products for the health industry.

Last month, Pierre Fabre, which employs 8,700 people and had revenues of 1.48 billion euros ($1.85 billion) in 2005, licensed mammalian cell line technology for the development of protein therapeutic candidates from Swiss biotechnology firm Selexis SA (Marketletter June 22).