Third deal with Servier for Vernalis

UK drug developer Vernalis (LSE: VER) and independent French pharma company Laboratories Servier have entered into a new three-year joint oncology collaboration focused on the discovery of drugs for a new undisclosed target.

The collaboration will utilize Vernalis’ proprietary fragment and structure-based drug discovery platform and Vernalis will receive fees and a share in the future success of the product in the form of milestones and royalties on sales. Financial terms of the collaboration are not disclosed. This is the third collaboration between Vernalis and Servier on undisclosed oncology targets.

It is also the second deal signed this month by Vernalis, which earlier entered into an agreement with Roche subsidiary Genentech, providing the latter with use of Vernalis’ fragment and structure-based drug discovery platform against an undisclosed target (The Pharma Letter January 5).