Analysts see a continuing surge of licensing deals

Merck officials would probably be among the first to agree with Needham & Associates' conclusion that the pace of biotech partnerships shows no sign of letting up. Big Pharma and Big Biotech are both avid about doing more deals to fill their pipelines. Among some of the biggest partnership deals that are likely in the works right now, they say, is a pact for Dendreon's Provenge, Dyax's DX-88 for hereditary angioedema, and a deal for ISIS 301012.

"Isis is likely to partner the drug candidate in the second half of 2007, given the interest by big pharma in this indication as well as the advanced resources needed for Phase III development of ISIS 301012 in polygenic 'garden-variety' hypercholesterolemia," Needham analysts wrote. Panacos, La Jolla and Anesiva also made the list of likely dealmakers.

- read the report on the trend from MarketWatch

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