Triad Therapeutics announced the initiation of a research collaboration with Schering-Plough Research Institute (SPRI) to discover novel compounds with antifungal activity.The collaboration will focus on the identification of small-molecule inhibitors of a key fungal enzyme.SPRI will pay Triad an initiation fee and, if SPRI exercises its option to license the compounds discovered in the collaboration, it could make additional payments and pay royalties on the sales of any products resulting from the collaboration.

"We are pleased to be working with the Schering-Plough Research institute on this discovery project," said Dr. Stephen Coutts, President of Triad. "This collaboration validates Triad's novel approach to small-molecule drug development and extensive work in the oxidoreductase gene family."

Triad will use its proprietary technology to rapidly generate potent and specific drug candidates designed to inhibit SPRI's target.Oxidoreductases represent $22 billion in annual drug sales, and Triad believes that this gene family also contains hundreds of additional targets in a wide variety of therapeutic areas.Oxidoreductases represent Triad's first gene family, and the company is now working on expanding its NMR-based and structured-guided approach to other gene families, including kinases.