Vernalis and Servier enter three-year cancer drug accord

UK-based Vernalis and Servier, France's largest privately-owned pharmaceutical company, have signed a three-year joint oncology  collaboration. Vernalis' proprietary fragment and structure-based drug  discovery platform will be used on an undisclosed cancer target provided  by the French firm, which will pay fees and a share in the downstream  success of the product in the form of milestones and royalties on sales.  Further financial terms were not disclosed. Vernalis and Servier already  have an existing collaborative deal to develop two promising oncology  targets involved in protein-protein interactions.