The partnership between academic and industry groups is critical to the commercialisation process and even more so for biological products than any other group. Many of the new pathogens or disease models are first isolated and developed by academic groups yet it is essential that industry gets involved early if there is to be a successful commercial product. Early commercial input can help to focus the research and also ensure that appropriate I.P. protection is put in place. It is also important to understand that these two groups have very different cultures and both groups need to gain a better understanding of these differences to allow them to work more effectively with each other. Academic groups are often worried about restrictions on publications, interference in their science and are focused on funding for only the next few years, while industry groups can be slow to respond to opportunities, are overly concerned about sharing their own data and determining the market value of the opportunity. If these collaborations are to be successful then they need to be genuine two way collaborations, with an open exchange of data, agreed milestones and timelines and frequent interactions between scientists.

Academic groups should look for partners who can provide more than just dollars as the input of technology such as adjuvant systems, scale up methods and Q.C. assays can help to speed up the project.

Commercial companies need to engage early, be willing to share their own data with academic partners and understand the need for academic publications . All of these topics will be discussed in this presentation.