Orion Corp of Finland and Hungary's Gedeon Richter have entered into "a comprehensive and long-term collaboration" looking at new chemical entities for cognitive disorders.

The two companies will jointly select three discovery phase candidates and share all the development-related expenses on an equal base. Marketing rights for any compounds that come out of the alliance have not been determined yet.

Reijo Salonen, head of R&D at Orion, said that "Alzheimer’s disease and other neuropsychiatric conditions with cognition deficit are devastating illnesses [and] we are deeply motivated to develop new therapies for these patients". Claiming that at Richter "we have found scientific skills and an organisational culture that will likely result in a successful partnership", he added that the collaboration "increases probability to succeed in this this challenging therapeutic area".

Zsolt Szombathelyi, R&D director at Richter, echoed those comments, saying that the pact "strengthens the research in the CNS area of both companies in a cost and time efficient way".