Company Press Releases

Unique public-private partnership

Québec government, AstraZeneca, Pfizer Canada and Merck Frosst team up to stimulate pharmaceutical research
and accelerate drug discovery

The announcement at BIO 2008 of the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM) was made by Paul Lévesque, President and CEO of Pfizer Canada, Dawn Graham, President, Merck Frosst Canada, Raymond Bachand, Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Montreal Region, Mark S. Jones, President and CEO of AstraZeneca Canada and Dr Alain Beaudet, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Fonds de la recherché en santé du Québec (FRSQ).

PARTNERS

San Diego, June 17, 2008– - At the prestigious BIO 2008 conference under way this week in San Diego, Raymond Bachand, Québec Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade (MDEIE), Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Montréal Region; Paul Lévesque, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer Canada; Mark S. Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca Canada; and Dawn Graham, President, Merck Frosst Canada, announced the creation of the Québec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM). They were accompanied by Dr. Alain Beaudet, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ), the province's public-sector health research funding agency, and by Mr. Max Fehlmann, director of CQDM.

This consortium, a first in Canada, is dedicated to stimulating research into drug development in Québec, with a focus on the pre-competitive stages-which represent a critical step in the process. By bringing together eminent scientists from industry, university, hospital and government circles, the CQDM will foster synergy between university and industry research. The resulting collaborative network will help create tools that are better adapted to the development of safer and more effective drugs.

"This is an excellent example of the benefits of public-private partnership for Québec society. The Québec Consortium for Drug Discovery will help sharpen our edge in the fiercely competitive global marketplace. By the same token, it will considerably enhance the quality of our drug discovery research and the academic programs of our universities. Partnership between private companies and research facilities is the cornerstone of the Québec strategy for research and innovation, outlined in a report entitled Un Québec innovant et prospère, published by the Québec government in December 2006," said Mr. Bachand.

The MDEIE and FRSQ are together contributing $4 million to set up the consortium. Pfizer Canada, AstraZeneca Canada and Merck Frosst Canada are each committing $1 million to the first year of operations. Moreover, Pfizer Canada and AstraZeneca Canada have announced that they will each be investing $1 million a year over the next four years.

"This is much more than a question of money. It is first and foremost a concerted effort to unite the strengths of key players in the pharma, biotech and academic sectors. As a result, they will be able to determine the core issues driving drug discovery and implement a research program in line with the needs of the industry," noted Dr. Alain Beaudet, President and CEO of the FRSQ, and staunch advocate of the consortium.

"Quebec has long been a location of choice for science-based pharmaceutical companies, and this initiative strengthens its leadership position even further and it will contribute to advance the knowledge-based economy in Quebec and in Canada," stated Paul Lévesque, President and CEO of Pfizer Canada Inc.

"This innovative new partnership will bring together our resources and scientific talent to enable us to accelerate the drug discovery process and develop more efficient ways of validating the safety and effectiveness of new drugs," said Mark S. Jones, President and CEO of AstraZeneca Canada. "Not only will this benefit scientific research, it will also benefit our universities and students."

"By focusing on the discovery of new targets and the initial steps of drug discovery, our university graduates will be much better prepared for a career in the biopharma industry," pointed out Dawn Graham, President of Merck Frosst Canada.

Minister Bachand explained that the industry, government and public-sector research community would all be represented on the consortium's board of directors and strategic steering committee.

Max Fehlmann, the Director of the CQDM, explained that researchers will be able to submit projects aimed at accelerating the drug discovery process in a wide variety of therapeutic sectors. Joint projects will be strongly encouraged. The strategic steering committee will select the initiatives that will receive funding and will provide the strategic direction necessary to optimize resources.

Drug discovery is a very complex and extremely specialized process that requires substantial investments in both time and money. Pharmaceutical companies are generally required to invest 12 years and $1 billion to develop a single new drug. The pre-competitive stages (identification and validation of new therapeutic targets and new biomarkers, development of tests to determine the efficacy or toxicity of the new molecules) represent a significant portion of this investment.

Québec is a long-standing leader in the Canadian pharmaceutical industry. With 145 biopharma firms established here, the province ranks first in Canada and occupies a place of prestige in North America. Québec is home to five of the six Canadian research centres specializing in drug discovery. AstraZeneca and Merck both operate research laboratories in Montréal.

A photo of the Minister and the other participants will be available online at www.mdeie.gouv.qc.ca/bio2008

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