Glossary

Quids

Last updated 22 August 2007

Description

Quids is an abbreviation for 'quid pro quo'. The term indicates a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services.

The phrase is used in partnering discussions to refer to an exchange of non-monetary benefits to offset the cost of the partnership.

In a negotiation it refers to a concession made in exchange for a gain.

Examples

Small company may seek to gain experience in sales and marketing in advance of the launch of its own product.

Therefore, it may seek from its bigpharma partner the opportunity for some of its personnel to work within the sales and marketing department of bigpharma.

In addition, it may seek permission from bigpharma to co-promote a non-core product alongside bigpharma so as to develop market and sales experience.

Bigpharma may agree to this arrangement in exchange for reduced alliance costs.

An example of this was the Neurocrine-Pfizer deal of 2002, where Pfizer offered Neurocrine the opportunity to market its Zoloft product in the US - this was a quid. Presumably Pfizer, received benefits in terms of lowered deal costs. For Neurocrine, the benefit is clear - they obtained valuable experience without the cost of setting up a marketing team of their own, allowing them to focus on pharmceutical development.