Avalon, Novartis to collaborate on drug discovery

GERMANTOWN, Md. Avalon Pharmaceuticals has begun the next phase in its drug discovery collaboration with Novartis. The collaboration aims to discover small molecule therapeutic compounds targeted against a pathway selected by Novartis.

The terms of the collaboration provide for upfront, research support and milestone payments made by Novartis. Details, however, were not disclosed.

Avalon is using technology it created to look at what drugs can be developed from a library of chemical compounds that Novartis owns.

“We are very pleased with the progress of this collaboration,” stated Stephen K. Horrigan, vice president of research. “Our AvalonRx drug discovery platform brings real value to programs through greater speed in identifying compounds with more selectivity against virtually any pathway or target, including those which historically have been considered undruggable.”