Alchemia lands discovery deal with AstraZeneca

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) has entered a collaboration to use its VAST chemistry platform in a drug discovery project with AstraZeneca.

Under the partnership, Alchemia will use its VAST (Versatile Assembly on Stable Templates) platform to discover and develop small molecule clinical candidates for multiple disease targets.

AstraZeneca will seek small molecules to treat diseases in therapeutic areas including oncology, respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolism, infection and neuroscience.

Alchemia will be entitled to milestone payments worth up to $240 million, as well as an undisclosed upfront payment and a single digit royalty on any sales.

Alchemia VP of discovery Dr Wim Meutermans, a co-inventor of VAST, said the AstraZeneca deal “is a pivotal step in the commercialisation of ... the VAST platform”.

The VAST platform is based on the Diversity Scanning Array (DSA), an array of over 14,000 unique compounds related by shape or functionality. It involves scanning this array using high-throughput screening to identify the shape and binding elements required in a small molecule.

Alchemia this month completed $12.95 million of capital raising. The company plans to put the majority of the funds towards a phase III trial of subsidiary Audeo Oncology’s cancer drug HA-Irinotecan in metastatic colorectal cancer.

The market reacted well to the AstraZeneca partnership. Alchemia shares were trading 7.46% higher at $0.36 as of around 1 pm on Tuesday.