Avalon, sanofi collaboration ends; no drug targets chosen for advancement

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Dec. 21 - Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced Wednesday the expiration of its collaboration agreement with sanofi-aventis to use molecular cytogenetics to identify and validate oncology targets.

The agreement, signed in December 2003, expired as a result of sanofi-aventis' decision not to advance targets for further validation, according to a company news release.

"We have appreciated the close collaboration with sanofi-aventis on this program," Paul Young, vice president of research for Avalon, said in the release.

"While they did not select any targets from this program, we expect to continue validation studies on several of the genes as potential Avalon drug-discovery targets," Young said.

Avalon is Germantown, Md., biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics.

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