Eisai Inc., the US pharmaceutical subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd., and FORMA Therapeutics announced that the two companies have signed a strategic drug discovery collaboration.

Under the terms of the agreement, Eisai will have non-exclusive access to FORMA's Diversity Oriented Synthesis (DOS) chemistry-generated compound library and cell-based screening platforms to support the discovery of novel compounds for Eisai's pipeline. In addition, Eisai has an option for technology transfer of FORMA's cell-based screening platform. FORMA will receive upfront payments and committed funding of $20 million over three years and is eligible to receive additional milestones plus royalties on future products that Eisai may commercialize as a result of this collaboration.

"FORMA's unique drug discovery capabilities will enable Eisai to access diversified chemistry and drug discovery technologies to identify novel drug candidates for otherwise difficult targets," said Kentaro Yoshimatsu, chief scientific officer, Eisai Product Creation Systems at Eisai Co., Ltd., the parent company of Eisai Inc. "As part of our product creation strategy to increase access to external innovation, we believe this collaboration with FORMA will allow for synergistic capabilities that lead to the creation of breakthrough treatments to satisfy unmet medical needs."

"We are delighted to be collaborating broadly with Eisai to support its drug development efforts. This collaboration provides further validation of FORMA's integrated drug discovery platform and demonstrates our capabilities for unlocking new druggable targets for both our internal product pipeline and for our partners," said Steven Tregay, CEO of FORMA. "This agreement provides significant, additional financial flexibility to pursue our internal drug discovery and development programs in oncology."


FORMA Therapeutics unlocks intractable targets to create transformative small molecule therapies in oncology. FORMA is creating a pipeline of products by applying its proprietary cell-based screening, structure-guided drug discovery and Diversity Oriented Synthesis (DOS) technologies.

Eisai Inc. was established in 1995 and is ranked among the top-20 US pharmaceutical companies (based on retail sales). The company began marketing its first product in the United States in 1997 and has rapidly grown to become a fully integrated pharmaceutical business with fiscal year 2009 (year ended March 31, 2010) sales of approximately $3.9 billion.