Drug discovery firm Alchemia today announced it has entered a multi-target drug discovery collaboration with AstraZeneca. The companies will work together to discover and potentially develop novel small molecules against multiple AstraZeneca targets using Alchemia’s Diversity Scanning Array and associated Versatile Assembly on Stable Templates chemistry platform.

Through this agreement, Alchemia will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and could receive up to $240 million in milestone payments, plus R&D expenses and royalties.

“We are excited to work alongside AstraZeneca’s teams to explore the applications of our proprietary VAST technology against a range of targets,” Wim Meutermans, VP of discovery at Alchemia, said in a statement.

Mike Snowden, head of Discovery Sciences at AstraZeneca added that “Alchemia’s DSA library and expertise in carbohydrate chemistry are welcome additions to our small molecule corporate collection and early discovery hit finding activities.”

Today’s announcement marks AstraZeneca’s third such deal with a drug discovery firm this week. Yesterday, the pharma firm announced collaborations with Horizon Discovery and BIND Therapeutics.

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