Debiopharm has signed on as the latest drug developer to attend Yale laboratories for some help with early-stage research work. Yale's "leadership in marrying chemistry and biology to identify and validate lead drug candidates has yielded a new approach to treating inflammatory disease. The Debio 1036 project aims at developing inhibitors targeting a fundamental inflammatory pathway, which plays essential roles in myriad diseases progression and severity," said Dr. Rolland-Yves Mauvernay, president and founder of the Swiss biotech. In just the last few weeks Yale has also inked research pacts with Gilead Sciences as well as a team from Icagen and Pfizer. Academic R&D pacts are all the rage these days, with Sanofi-Aventis leading the pack with a series of discovery deals with UCSF, Harvard and others. Debiopharm release