Vernalis has reached a research milestone as part of the oncology drug discovery alliance with French pharmaceutical company, Servier.

Under the drug discovery program, Vernalis will receive a payment of €0.5m from Servier on achieving the target.

In addition, Vernalis will receive fees and a share in the future success of the product in the form of milestones and royalties on sales.

The partnership leverages Vernalis' proprietary fragment and structure-based drug discovery platform on undisclosed oncology targets.

Vernalis CEO Ian Garland said the achievement further supports the proprietary fragment and structure-based drug discovery platforms.