Allelix And Eli Lilly Canada In C$15 Million Research Deal

Eli Lilly Canada and Allelix Bio-pharmaceuticals have signed a C$15 million ($10.6 million) basic research agreement in the area of central nervous system diseases. Lilly Canada will fund a four-year research effort which will focus on the characterization of receptors found in the CNS, and using them to screen large libraries of compounds to identify better treatments for CNS disorders.

Lilly Canada and Allelix have been collaborating in the area of CNS research since 1989, and have discovered new compounds to treat CNS diseases such as schizophrenia, migraine and stroke. To date, this has led to the submission of 55 patent applications worldwide on 12 innovative receptors. The new agreement launches a new phase of the collaboration, and will bring the total commitment by Lilly Canada in Allelix to C$25 million by 1999.

Allelix chief executive Graham Strachan said that the new research efforts, and the technology developed to date, will help accelerate the development of new CNS disease therapies.