In early 2009, the chieftains of several pharmaceutical giants got together to discuss a new kind of biotechnology company. It would be a company guided by pharma to find and develop the technologies missing in the drug-making enterprise. But for it to work, the companies—typically, rivals—would have to work together to identify the biggest technological bottlenecks facing the industry. The new company, dubbed Enlight Biosciences, didn’t want solely an investment of expertise, it was asking for $13 million from each participating company.
“We didn’t know, when we brought these companies together, what it would be like,” said Raju Kucherlapati, a member of Enlight’s scientific advisory board. But to the surprise of meeting organizers Daphne Zohar and David Steinberg, they saw a real appetite to “interact in an open and honest way,” says Steinberg.
In the past, the idea of pharmaceutical companies working together was unheard of. “If you know about ...
