Agenda
Emerging companies find it increasingly difficult to reach the right person when seeking funding and/or partners. Through the �Meet with�� Series, we provide emerging companies with greater access to partnering and/or financing opportunities.
In this session, Licensing Directors from
Merck & Co., Inc. will talk to potential licensees to first explain what they are looking for in a company.
After the presentation,
each attendee will be granted a private meeting with
Dr. James M. Schaeffer - the Executive Director of Licensing & External Research for Merck Research Laboratories at Merck & Co., Inc. - or
Dr. Yael Weiss - the Director of Licensing & External Research for Merck Research Laboratories at Merck & Co., Inc.
Registrations are subject to approval of application.
About Merck's areas of interest
Merck is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to putting patients first.
Currently, the therapeutic areas of highest priority for Merck are: Alzheimer’s disease, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, novel vaccines, obesity, oncology, sarcopenia, and schizophrenia. In addition, and importantly for licensing, the following other areas remain of high interest for focused investment in new compounds and mechanisms: antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals (HCV and HIV), asthma, COPD, neurodegenerative diseases, osteoporosis, and circadian disorders. In other disease areas Merck will continue to pursue external licensing when attractive opportunities for compounds with clinical proof of concept become available. Merck remains very interested in accessing research technologies which will enable/advance current projects; this includes bioinformatics IT, biologic platforms, drug delivery (including nucleotides), peptide therapeutics, molecular biomarkers and RNA therapeutics.
Click here to view Merck's areas of interest»
Speakers Bios
Dr. James Schaeffer, Executive Director of Licensing & External Research, Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc.
Dr. Jim Schaeffer joined Merck Research Laboratories (MRL) in 1986. During his first 16 years at MRL, he directed research groups focusing primarily on neuroendocrine-related projects. Jim joined the Department of External Scientific Affairs in 2003 with primary responsibility for all neuroscience licensing opportunities and during the next 18 months, he was directly involved in the signing of four major agreements. Jim moved to San Diego in 2004 to assume the role of Merck's "Science Scout" on the West Coast, with the responsibility to identify new opportunities across all therapeutic areas at all stages of development including enabling technologies. During the past four years, Jim has been directly involved in the execution of 7 major agreements with West Coast based organizations including recent agreements with AmbrX, Marcadia, MediVas, the Gladstone Institute, the University of California in San Francisco and the University of Texas-Southwestern. As of July 2008, Jim is also responsible for Merck's scouting efforts in China.
Dr. Yael Weiss, Director of Licensing & External Research, Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc.
Yael completed her MSc and PhD in molecular genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel and obtained her medical degree at Hadassah Medical Center, affiliated with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. After practicing medicine for a few years, Yael joined an Israeli venture capital firm as a vice president responsible for analyzing and maintaining deal flow, and then moved on to become a medical and business development director at Genzyme Israel. Yael joined MSD Israel as medical director in the beginning of 2004 and in 2007 she joined Merck's Licensing group in San Francisco as a scientific scout responsible for identification of licensing opportunities emanating from the West Coast.
