Big pharma's pre-competitive collaboration

Merck, Eli Lilly and Pfizer have provided funding to launch Enlight Biosciences, a for-profit venture that aims to advance breakthrough technologies for drug discovery and development.

The lowdown: There has recently been increasing emphasis from industry on participating in non-profit collaborations to address issues in drug development that are considered to be pre-competitive. 

Now, Merck, Eli Lilly and Pfizer, together with the venture capital firm PureTech Ventures and several leading academic researchers, have founded Enlight Biosciences. 

This is a for-profit venture that will aim to tackle critical unmet industry needs with innovations from academia and start-up companies. Enlight Biosciences, based in Boston, USA, will direct up to US$39 million into technologies that strengthen the connection between preclinical research, clinical research and post-market use, such as techniques that could help predict human responses to experimental therapies.