Graffinity and Elan to work on fragment-based drug discovery

German pharmaceuticals company Graffinity is to collaborate with Elan Pharmaceuticals on fragment-based drug discovery.

Under the terms of the agreement, Heidelberg-based Graffinity will receive payments for the generation of small molecule hits against a number of drug targets.

Elan Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of US-based Elan Corporation, will gain access to Graffinity’s proprietary fragment-based technology, which uses chemical micro-arrays and surface plasmon resonance to screen for small molecule fragments that bind to a variety of drug targets.

The identification of novel modes of action and chemistry is a major focus of the collaboration. Financial details were not disclosed.