Paris-based Ipsen and the nonprofit Salk Institute have teamed up to create the Ipsen Life Sciences Program at The Salk Institute. Over the next three to five years, Ipsen will pay Salk $10 million dollars to research three disease areas: cancer biology, degenerative diseases and maladies associated with metabolic syndrome.
Declining funding from the National Institutes of Health to nonprofit research centers has made the nonprofits more likely to ink deals with paying companies. But critics say these research agreements can cause problems. They contend that companies reap the benefits of research paid for by taxpayers, and that scientist may be encouraged to pursue the most economically beneficial targets rather than discoveries with the most medical benefit for patients. In a similar recent deal, Pfizer agreed to pay the Scripps Research Institute $20 million a year for five years to help develop new therapies for diabetes, cancer, mental diseases and other conditions.
- check out this release on the deal
- see this report for more