Under the new $4.8m strategic alliance, ex scientia received an upfront payment of $1m.
As part of the deal, Sunovion will receive exclusive worldwide rights to the resulting compounds, while ex scientia will retain exclusive rights to its technology.
The collaborative research will focus on developing new approaches to compound design by analyzing data arising from phenotypic drug discovery.
The deal will combine the power of advanced, large-scale phenotypic screening with ex scientia’s technology for the rational design of polypharmacology drugs.
The collaboration builds upon ex scientia’s delivery of new bispecific compounds that combine activities at the GPCR and ion channel target families.
ex scientia founder and CEO Prof Andrew Hopkins said: "We are delighted to collaborate with Sunovion on this exciting approach to discovering new treatments for complex psychiatric diseases.
"This partnership establishes our design platform as a method of choice for data-driven phenotypic drug discovery.
"The agreement shows the power of applying a polypharmacology philosophy to challenging disease areas and our commitment to building strategic partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies to deliver novel medicines."