Avalon, ChemDiv Enter Cancer Drug Pact

Avalon Pharmaceuticals and ChemDiv, Inc. have entered into a collaboration for the discovery and development of small molecule oncology therapeutics. Avalon will use its AvalonRx platform to discover new active compounds in screens against selected targets and target pathways. ChemDiv will provide Avalon access to its Discovery outSource services platform, including the largest commercially available chemical library, as well as medicinal and synthetic chemistry for the discovery and development of new active compounds.

The two companies will share development costs and the value of any lead candidate resulting from their research efforts. Additional terms of the agreement provide Avalon with the right to select 200,000 compounds from the ChemDiv library for use in all of Avalon’s discovery programs.

“This is a classic win-win situation for both companies,” stated Kenneth C. Carter, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Avalon Pharmaceuticals. “We are pleased to partner with ChemDiv, where we are both able to leverage expertise in the ongoing effort to discover new cancer therapeutics through the combination of our AvalonRx drug discovery platform and ChemDiv’s compound library, chemistry resources and expertise.”

“We are excited about this partnership with Avalon,” said Nikolay Savchuk, president and chief executive officer of ChemDiv, Inc. “This collaboration is based on the synergy of ChemDiv’s discovery assets and research resources along with Avalon’s unique drug discovery engine. We believe that this combination of both Avalon’s and ChemDiv’s technologies will result in a reduction of the time and effort required to identify and develop new breakthrough therapeutics.”