David Sarnoff Research Center, SmithKline deal

The Philadelphia company signed a letter of intent with Sarnoff to collaborate in developing and commercializing a device for the rapid synthesis and screening of molecules for drug discovery. Sarnoff (Princeton) will form a new company in which it will hold a majority stake. SmithKline will hold a stake in the unnamed company, and will have exclusive access for a specified period in human pharmaceuticals to devices produced by the collaboration.

The collaboration aims to develop a chip the size of a business card that will carry out thousands of chemical experiments simultaneously without human intervention - from combinatorial synthesis of molecules to screening for biological activity. ...