Myriad Genetics partners up with Abbott in drug research

Salt Lake-based Myriad Genetics Inc. and Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories said Tuesday they have entered into a broad drug-discovery collaboration.

The companies will work to identify new therapeutic targets.

Under the five-year research agreement, Myriad will use its genetics and other discovery technologies to identify human genes and regulatory networks associated with a variety of diseases. Abbott will advance the genes through its chemical genomics platform to identify targets and leads for drug discovery.

"Each company will have exclusive rights to the therapeutic targets and drug lead compounds to expand their therapeutic pipelines," the companies said. Myriad will receive approximately 40 percent of the targets with associated lead compounds identified under the collaboration, and Abbott will receive about 60 percent.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.