Structural GenomiX Inc (SGX) and Asahi Kasei Corporation of Japan have signed an agreement to utilize SGX's structure guided drug discovery technologies to identify lead compounds against a cardiovascular target. It is expected that the integration of large scale co-crystal structural information into the drug discovery process will significantly shorten the time from validated target to development candidate and produce better, more selective leads.

Under the agreement, SGX will use an iterative cycle of computational chemistry (combining high-throughput compound docking and molecular dynamics simulations), and rapid co-crystallization of the target with compounds from both Asahi and SGX, to identify lead compounds for optimization and subsequent clinical development.

The terms of the agreement include payments to SGX for research funding, and additional payments for preclinical and clinical milestones and royalties.