Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with Amgen Inc. to identify novel, small molecule therapeutic agents. Infinity will provide Amgen with non-exclusive access to a proprietary collection of small molecules for a three-year period during which time Amgen may screen broadly against multiple targets and perform chemistry to identify small molecule drug leads.

Under the agreement, Amgen has made a $25 million equity investment in Infinity after which Amgen will own less than 15 per cent of the company. During the three-year term of the collaboration, Amgen will make additional payments, which may include success-based payments and research funding. Moreover, Infinity is eligible to receive milestones and royalties based on successful pre-clinical and clinical development and marketing of certain products resulting from Amgen's use of Infinity's compounds.

"While the development of our own proprietary drugs is at the heart of Infinity's mission, research collaborations are essential to enabling our novel chemistries to see a broader range of disease targets and realize their full potential," said Julian Adams, chief scientific officer, Infinity. "We are delighted to be collaborating with Amgen, a company with a demonstrated commitment to innovative drug discovery."

"The financial structure of the agreement provides Infinity with significant capital that will enable us to accelerate our investment in our proprietary drug discovery programs as well as to continue building our proprietary collection of novel small molecules," said Adelene Perkins, chief business officer, Infinity.