Major pharmaceutical jobs providers Merck Sharpe and Dohme (MSD) and Roche have formed a series of strategic agreements in the field of hepatitis C research.
The non-exclusive deals will see both companies and their respective subsidiaries working together to improve treatment, diagnosis and awareness of the condition in developed and emerging markets.
As part of this alliance, Roche will be promoting MSD's drug Victrelis as part of a triple combination therapy regimen in the US, an agreement that the companies plan to extend to other territories.
They will also be working together to conduct clinical research into novel combinations of marketed and investigational medicines, in the hopes of determining new treatment methods.
Adam Schechter, executive vice-president and president for global human health at MSD, said: "These agreements are consistent with both companies' goal of improving healthcare outcomes for patients with chronic hepatitis C."
This comes in the same month that MSD announced the launch of a new awareness campaign for the disease called Hope Against Hepatitis C.