Alchemia in up to A$240 million deal with AstraZeneca for VAST discovery platform

23 April 2013

In a third drug discovery agreement in a matter of days, Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) has signed up with Australian drug discovery firm Alchemia (ASX: ACL) for a multi-target, drug discovery collaboration, the latter announced this morning. Alchemia shares rose 7.5% to $0.36 by mid-afternoon trading in Australia.

This collaboration includes the use of the proprietary Diversity Scanning Array (DSA) and associated Versatile Assembly on Stable Templates (VAST) chemistry platform to discover and develop novel small molecules against multiple AstraZeneca targets. Alchemia will provide VAST chemistry expertise to develop small molecule clinical candidates for AstraZeneca. By accessing Alchemia’s VAST discovery platform, AstraZeneca will seek novel small molecules to treat diseases across a variety of therapeutic areas including oncology, respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolism, infection and neuroscience.

Alchemia eligible for upfront payment, milestones and potential royalties

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