At present, collaboration and alliance management are hot topics within the pharmaceutical industry. Two-thirds of the alliances fail to meet all or some of the expectations of one or more partners. Furthermore, majority of the reasons cited for alliance failure are due to factors under management control. This article features ways of establishing a clear understanding of the specific risks in the alliance and steps to manage and mitigate them, expediting the launch of the collaboration, especially the relational parameters and implementing improvement initiatives.