Vernalis plc, a revenue generating development stage pharmaceutical company, and Servier, France's largest privately-owned pharmaceutical company, have further extended their ongoing oncology collaboration initiated in May 2007.

This is the first of three collaborations between Vernalis and Servier and focuses on multiple undisclosed oncology targets. It was initially extended in October 2011 and is now extended for a further two years.

Ian Garland, CEO of Vernalis, commented “We are delighted by this news which reflects Servier’s continued endorsement of our joint achievements over the past few years.”

Servier's head of research, Bernard Marchand, said: “this 2-year extension highlights our commitment to cancer research through innovative drug discovery platforms.”