Combinatorial Recombinations
Executive Summary
Pharmacopeia's deal with Schering-Plough is one of the very few rich alliances in a technology area in which only Affymax has proven that it can attract significant big-company funding. Selectide's acquisition by Marion Merrell Dow raises questions about how much this technology can be partnered: many potentialpartners believe they can develop the technology on their own, or if they can't, want to use the start-up's libraries against all of their targets--a virtual acquisition. Real acquisition might be the best option.