Vanguard's Florentine partner

Ever since SmithKline Beecham decided not to pursue its interest in the potential migraine treatment frovatriptan, Vanguard Medica Group plc (LSE:VGD) has struggled to convince investors that the compound is a winner. Replacing SmithKline has been even more difficult because VGD has not had many big names to choose from. Instead of going for the top tier pharma companies, VGD has had to settle for the next division down.

Thus VGD (Guildford, Surrey) last week said that Menarini SpA, a privately owned Italian pharmaceutical group, was to be its commercialization partner for frovatriptran in Europe...