Lorus Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery, research and development of pharmaceutical products announced today that it has entered into a research and license option agreement with Elanco, the animal health division of Eli Lilly and Company, to investigate some of Lorus’ compounds for veterinary medicine. According to the agreement, Elanco will fund the research program and has been granted an exclusive option to license the worldwide rights for selected compounds for veterinary use; the terms of which will be negotiated when the option is exercised by Elanco. Lorus retains the rights to develop and commercialize these compounds for human use. No further details of the deal were disclosed.

“We are excited about this partnership with Elanco, a global leader in veterinary medicine, and look forward to advancing these compounds in veterinary medicine,” said Dr. Aiping Young, President and CEO of Lorus. “The support of Elanco enables us to accelerate the development of this promising program with the ultimate goal of bringing a drug from this program to the veterinary market in the shortest possible timeframe.”