The two companies will work to identify and develop new treatments for cancer and other serious diseases Amgen and Plexium have announced a research collaboration and licensing agreement to identify and develop new protein degrading treatments for complex diseases.

As part of the agreement, Amgen will use its molecular development portfolio in combination with Plexium’s new technology platform – a cell-based screening technology with the ability to discover new molecular glue treatments.

The main focus of the partnership is to expand opportunities for targeted protein degradation through the discovery of previously unrecognised molecular glues or monovalent degraders.

These molecules work through a concept of induced proximity that take advantage of the normal biology of a cell to bring two proteins together to drive protein degradation.

According to the terms of the agreement, the collaboration will initially focus on two programmes and Amgen will have the option to include other programmes.

If all programme options are used, Plexium will be eligible to receive over $500m in success-based treatment access, alongside preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones. In addition, Plexium could also receive tiered single-digit royalty payments.

Amgen holds a commercial licence for each programme that advances to predetermined preclinical stages of development and will assume responsibility for worldwide development and commercialisation.

Ray Deshaies, senior vice president of Global Research at Amgen, said: "We are on the cusp of a new era of drug discovery where medicines could function very differently than conventional ones do today."

He added: "Collaborating with Plexium and leveraging their innovative technology to identify molecular glue degraders can help tackle some of the most challenging protein targets to address serious disease."

Percival Barretto-Ko, president and chief executive officer at Plexium, said: "This partnership leverages and expands our drug discovery capabilities. We look forward to working with Amgen to accelerate the discovery of the next generation of targeted protein degraders."