TransTech Pharma, Inc., a privately held drug discovery company, and Cephalon, Inc., an international biopharmaceutical company, announced a multi-year research collaboration using TransTech's proprietary Translational Technology to discover and develop small molecules for up to three therapeutic targets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cephalon has the exclusive right to develop and commercialize all compounds directed at each of the targets covered by the collaboration. TransTech would receive payments upon the achievement of specified research, clinical and commercialization milestones. In addition, TransTech would receive royalties on future product sales. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

TransTech's Translational Technology is a highly automated and fully integrated drug discovery process including proprietary software modules. The technology already has shown promise against a wide range of biological targets including protein-protein interactions, receptor modulators and enzyme inhibitors, and delivered small-molecule-based pre-clinical drug candidates for the treatment of diabetes, cancer, inflammation, Alzheimer's disease and thrombosis.

"The collaboration with TransTech is another step in maximizing the potential of our drug discovery efforts by utilizing TransTech's technology to enhance and diversify Cephalon's pipeline of potential therapeutics," said Jeffry L. Vaught, Ph.D., senior vice president and president of research and development at Cephalon.

Adnan Mjalli, Ph.D., Founder, president and chief executive officer of TransTech, said: "We are very excited to enter into this collaboration with Cephalon, a premier international biopharmaceutical company, having special expertise and strength in the fields of oncology and CNS-related disorders. The coupling of Cephalon's discovery and development capabilities with TransTech's Translational Technology is a powerful combination designed to result in the expedited discovery of patentable clinical drug candidates."