NEW YORK, Aug 14 – Exelixis of South San Francisco, Calif., has announced an agreement with Elan Pharmaceuticals to develop a compound library, marking Exelixis’ initial chemistry deal.
“This is our first chemistry-focused collaboration and it validates the quality of the discovery organization, while offsetting some of the cost of building our large high throughput screening compound library for drug discovery at Exelixis,” George Scangos, Exelixis’s CEO, said in a statement released Monday.
Under the terms of the three-year deal with Elan, Exelixis said it would develop a small molecule library that would be available to both Elan and Exelixis.
Elan will provide Exelixis with an upfront payment and will make additional payments as compounds are made available. Further details were not disclosed.
Exelixis’ drug target capabilities combine model system genetics with the company’s screening platform, compound library, and chemistry capabilities.
The company, which has deals with Aventis, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Protein Design Labs, Dow AgroSciences, is currently building an internal drug development program in oncology.
Exelixis has said it expects to identify its first compound by the end of 2001.