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JustPartnering
Boutique life sciences consultancy

When your science is ready but your BD isn’t.

JustPartnering helps biotech, pharma, and research teams move from discovery to deal, with the right strategy, connections, and support.

Our senior team covers business development and licensing, product development, regulatory and CMC, and project management, for clients worldwide since 2007. One flat hourly rate, no minimum commitment.

Good science, no deal? Knowing what your asset is worth, to whom, and at what stage is the difference between a deal and a dead end.
Our global network

The partnering network behind every engagement.

Biocontacts is our proprietary partnering database. We track the in-licensing interests of pharma, biotech, animal health, medical device and research tools companies around the world. Need a target list?

2,500+
In-licensing companies tracked

Geography, stage, therapeutic area, and modality of interest.

4,000+
Business development contacts mapped

Business development and external innovation executives and their areas of focus.

Why teams choose us

01

We have experience you can’t employ.

Our advisors have founded and run biotechs and closed BD deals themselves. That experience is available to you on an as-needed basis, without hiring it in.

02

We speak the language of the people signing term sheets.

Researchers and dealmakers evaluate assets differently. We translate your science into an opportunity partners can say yes to.

03

A senior team backed by someone who’s done it herself.

Janette has founded six biotech companies herself, alongside building JustPartnering. That experience shapes how every engagement runs. Peter, Fiona, Manuela, Abigail, and Ashley bring the same hands-on depth across product development, CMC and regulatory.

How we work

Most clients are up and running within a week.

A short call, a written scope, a senior advisor engaged on your timeline, and an itemised invoice each month.

See how we work
Where to start

Pick the pieces you need. Skip the rest.

Whatever stage your asset is at, engage us for exactly the part you're missing.

Find the right partners. Close the right deals.

We identify and approach the pharma, biotech, and medtech companies most likely to license or co-develop your asset, through relationships we’ve already built.

Explore Business Development & Licensing
  • Partner identification and shortlisting using Biocontacts
  • Outreach, introductions, and meeting coordination
  • Deal structuring, term sheet review, and negotiation support
  • Partnering conference strategy and preparation
Downloadable Resources

Download the Free Pitch Deck Toolkit

Templates, guides, and strategy resources to help biotech and research teams prepare for partnering discussions.

Pitch Deck Guide
Pitch Deck Example
Pitch Deck Template
JustPartnering

Pitch Deck
Toolkit
2026

The Team

The team behind the work.

Dr. Janette Dixon

Dr. Janette Dixon

Founder & Director

Janette has founded six biotech companies over 30+ years and has spent 19+ years turning early-stage science into licensing deals through JustPartnering. Formerly a scientist, she has degrees in marketing and finance and a doctorate in strategic management.

Dr. Peter Kelly

Dr. Peter Kelly

Principal

Peter has a DPhil in Organic Chemistry from Oxford and hands-on experience across biotech startups and CDMOs: from lab bench to clinical development with a focus on CMC, process development and project management.

Dr. Manuela Baron

Dr. Manuela Baron

Principal

Manuela has a PhD in Structural and Molecular Biology and a background in pharma strategy consulting with IQVIA. She combines deep scientific fluency with a talent for translating science into commercial opportunity.

Track record

19+ years of partnering, licensing, and drug development experience.

50+
Assets progressed to clinic

Translational focus: from the lab to early clinical development.

300+
Face-to-face meetings a year

Plus many more held virtually.


We're in the room where deals happen

Click a conference to see how we work it for you.


Conferences, run end to end

Partnering conferences should be where deals start. Too often they're where good intentions go to die: a diary half-filled with the wrong meetings, briefings written on the plane, and follow-ups that slip while the leads go cold. Working the platform properly is a job in itself, on top of the one your team already has.

That's our job. We attend 300+ face-to-face partnering meetings a year, and set up many more for clients. We know the platforms, the companies, and what a well-targeted meeting looks like.

Before: we build your schedule from the ground up, target the right companies for your asset, chase every request through to a locked agenda, and hand you a research-backed briefing for each meeting (who they are, their pipeline and stage, who's in the room, and why it matters).

During: we run the meetings alongside your team or on your behalf, hold each conversation to your objectives, and capture what was actually said while it's fresh. Alternatively, you can take the meetings without us.

After: within days, you receive our report: detailed notes of each meeting and fit call (hot lead, warm, or not a fit), every action assigned an owner, and a read on how the market received your asset. We follow up on every meeting, lining up next steps.

We leave the conference with a documented set of qualified conversations you can act on.

Book a 30-minute call
From the JustPartnering team

Some assets are better off as a company than a licence deal.

JustSpinouts is our sister service for that path. It helps research teams and TTOs turn IP into investable biotech companies: business plan, governance, capital raising, and fractional management, under one engagement.

Explore JustSpinouts
JustSpinouts
  • IP evaluation
  • Business plan development
  • Company formation
  • Capital raising
  • Fractional management
“I could tell you exactly how the drug works, but I couldn’t tell you how to raise a seed round or build a company. That’s what Janette’s team did for us.”
Professor Anne La Flamme, Victoria University of Wellington. Spinout to Phase 2 trial.

Common questions

What does JustPartnering do?
JustPartnering is a boutique life sciences business development and licensing consultancy. We help biotech, animal health, and research teams identify the right partners, build partner-ready materials, and negotiate licensing and co-development deals.
Who is JustPartnering for?
Biotech, animal health, and research teams that need business development expertise without hiring it in-house. Clients range from early-stage teams preparing their first pitch to clinical-stage companies running an active out-licensing process. If your science is ready but you don't have BD expertise or capacity, that's the fit.
Does JustPartnering only work with drug and therapeutics companies?
No. Alongside human therapeutics, we work across animal health licensing, medtech, diagnostics, and biotech spinouts. The same partnering approach and hourly rate apply regardless of modality. We match the engagement to your asset, not the other way around.
Where does JustPartnering operate?
JustPartnering works with biotech, animal health, and research teams globally. Our team is based in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, with partnering relationships across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific through Biocontacts, our database of 2,500+ in-licensing companies and 4,000+ contacts.
How is JustPartnering different from a broker or a CRO?
We don't take success fees or a percentage of deal value, and we don't run trials or manufacturing. We're paid a flat hourly rate for business development and licensing expertise only, so our advice isn't tied to whether a deal closes or how big it is.
What does it cost to engage JustPartnering?
One flat hourly rate, with no retainer and no minimum commitment. You pay for hours worked, nothing else. Every engagement starts with a scoped estimate before any work begins. See How We Work for the full process.
Related: see how we work for the full process, or our services for a breakdown by task. Our network of potential partners is global, but if you are specifically interested in finding partners in APAC, read our APAC biotech partnering page.

Most clients start with a 30-minute call.

No brief required. Just tell us where you’re stuck.

Book a Call