Myriad and Abbott Enter into Broad Discovery Collaboration

Myriad Genetics, Inc. and Abbott have announced that the two companies have entered into a broad drug discovery collaboration to identify therapeutic targets.

The collaboration will leverage proprietary technology from both organizations to identify favorable targets amenable to drug discovery.

Under the five-year research agreement, Myriad will use its genetics, RNA expression profiling, and other discovery technologies, to identify human genes and regulatory networks associated with a variety of diseases.

Myriad will evaluate differences in DNA and the RNA expression between thousands of individuals to identify the genetic basis of disease.

Abbott will advance these genes through its chemical genomics platform to identify targets and leads for drug discovery.

Each company will have exclusive rights to the therapeutic targets and drug lead compounds to expand their therapeutic pipelines.

Myriad will receive approximately 40 percent of the targets with associated lead compounds identified under the collaboration. Abbott will receive approximately 60 percent.

"The combination of technologies achieved through this collaboration will further the drug discovery efforts at both companies and is expected to lead to innovative solutions for a wide range of unmet medical needs," said Dan Norbeck, Ph.D., Vice President, Pharmaceutical Discovery, Abbott.

"We are extremely pleased to be working with Abbott to discover the next generation of lead compounds to treat diseases with major unmet needs," said Peter Meldrum, President and CEO of Myriad Genetics, Inc.

"We will apply our expertise with leading discovery technologies along with Abbott's proprietary chemical genomics platform to produce a set of novel, high-value drug targets and lead compounds."