EMD Serono and Fast Forward form research collaboration

Proposals will be jointly developed by EMD Serono and Fast Forward. Merck KGaA, the parent corporation of EMD Serono, will provide up to $19 million in funding. The funds will support early-stage clinical development projects with biotech companies or projects with individual researchers or academic institutions.

To speed multiple sclerosis (MS) research and clinical development, the companies have entered into a two-year worldwide agreement that may extend for an additional three years.

The Early Stage Commercial Company Fund and the Innovation Accelerator Fund, the two programs in the EMD Serono collaboration, complement Fast Forward’s ongoing efforts to spur early-stage drug discovery for MS. Both programs are expected to provide critical resources to underfunded stages of the drug development process and align with Fast Forward’s strategy to identify the most promising drug discovery research and accelerate the drug development process by providing financial resources to move it forward.

Fast Forward will disseminate requests for proposals in the second quarter of 2009 with initial funding of proposals anticipated by December 2009. The overall selection of program awardees will be made exclusively by Fast Forward, with participation by EMD Serono under Fast Forward’s standard assessment process.

The priority areas to be selected for development partnership will be determined by a joint committee comprising Fast Forward staff and representatives from EMD Serono and Merck KGaA. All funding disbursements will be managed and approved by the Fast Forward board of directors.