Pfizer blesses Aurora, Evotec, Neurogen

Aurora Biosciences Corp. hopes it has turned the corner on building a sustainable toolkit company based on contract revenues, finally moving from its technology development alliances to selling finished products and services. As it completes development of its Ultra-High Throughput Screening System (UHTSS), scheduled for year end, ABSC plans to achieve breakeven this year through additional partnerships for its drug discovery technology.

Last week's five-year deal with Pfizer Inc. (New York, N.Y.) will provide $50 million in contract revenue. In return, the pharma company received broad access to ABSC's reporters, assays and automated systems and received a non-exclusive license to ABSC's ultra-fast screening systems and fluorescent sensors. ABSC (San Diego, Calif.) also will provide a team of Pfizer-funded scientists to conduct screen development, compound profiling (ADME toxicology) and genomics research...