Drug developer ValiRx (LON:VAL) has signed a three-year collaboration agreement with Finnish contract research company Pharmatest to develop products using gene silencing platform GeneICE.
No money is changing hands, but Pharmatest will receive a small portion of any will royalties or milestone payments on products developed through the tie-up.
GeneICE, owned by ValiRx, enables the selective silencing of 'rebellious' or inappropriately active genes. It has been shown to be effective in prostate, ovarian, pancreatic, lung and other cancers.
Under the agreement, Pharmatest will design GeneICE constructs and test them in cancer model systems.
Both companies were partners in the Eurostars program.
Satu Vainikka, ValiRx’s chief executive, said: "ValiRx is happy to enter into this 3-year agreement with Pharmatest.
“The work that Pharmatest has done for ValiRx in our other programmes during the past years has been of very high quality and we are convinced that this agreement will substantially speed up the development of future GeneICE projects."