The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is getting into the drug business with the help of a 10-year, $65-million research collaboration with Novartis AG, a pharmaceutical giant based in Switzerland.

The partnership, as the university calls it in a joint announcement today with Novartis, will create a new Novartis-MIT Center for Continuous Manufacturing. The center will focus on developing technologies for producing drugs. The money will be used to support seven to 10 MIT faculty members, as well as students, postdocs, and other staff members.

The collaboration may well be one of MIT’s largest industrial partnerships. In 1999 MIT announced a $35-million alliance with DuPont, a deal that was renewed for an additional $25-million in 2005. According to The Boston Globe, MIT and Novartis will share ownership of intellectual property that they develop jointly in the partnership.

Since the mid-1990s, MIT has been among the most active universities in pursuing research collaborations with industry. —Goldie Blumenstyk