Phylogica hits new milestone in Pfizer project

Phylogica (ASX:PYC) has reached a new research milestone in its peptide drug discovery collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

The Perth-based Peptide drug discovery company will now receive its second milestone payment under the collaboration and license agreement with Pfizer, which is worth up to $US134.5 million ($138.4 million).

Details of the milestone and the size of the second payment were not disclosed.

The first milestone under the agreement was achieved in December last year. In this phase, Phylogica identified several novel peptides that fit the criteria for evaluation by Pfizer. The collaboration to use Phylogica's Phylomer peptide libraries and screening technology to identify new peptide drug candidates commenced in December 2010.

Phylogica received an upfront payment of US$500,000 on the signing of the deal, and will be eligible for milestone payments worth up to US$134 million, as well as royalties on sales of any products emerging from the collaboration.

Phylomer is the trademarked name for Phylogica's library of peptide drug candidates.

Phylogica (ASX:PYC) shares were trading 2.08% lower at $0.047 by around 1pm on Thursday.