Lilly signs drug agreement with PsychoGenics

PsychoGenics has announced that it has entered into a partnership with Eli Lilly for drug discovery and development. PsychoGenics will use its drug discovery technologies to assess drug candidates supplied by Lilly to treat neuropsychiatric disorders.

The company’s drug discover technology incorporates advances in robotics, computer vision, bioinformatics and cheminformatics with in vivo behavioural expertise for the purposes of evaluating compounds for use in treating neuropsychiatric diseases.

Under the terms of the agreement, either company may exclusively develop drug candidates that may be discovered as a result of the partnership.

The company that does not develop the compound will receive payments upon the realisation of development and regulatory milestones, in addition to royalty payments after the drug is commercialised.

Dr Emer Leahy, president and chief executive officer of PsychoGenics, commented that the company was “delighted” to expand its relationship with Lilly through this agreement.

“We are confident, given our successes with other partners to date, that our proprietary and comprehensive approach may identify unexploited commercial potential for a variety of discontinued or de-prioritised Lilly compounds.”

In October, Lilly announced that it has completed the first phase of the expansion of its biotechnology site in Indianapolis as part of its plans to improve its capabilities for drug research and development.