Its largest deal to date was a $3 billion tie-up with Actelion two months ago, which gave the British-based group rights to the Swiss biotech company’s sleeping pill almorexant, currently in final-stage clinical trials.

Under the new deal, Glaxo has exclusive options to license drug candidates from Cellzome’s kinase programmes directed against four identified targets, and three additional targets that have yet to be identified.

Cellzome will get as much as 118 million pounds per programme in potential development, regulatory and commercial milestones and up to double digit royalties on eventual sales.

Tim Edwards, Cellzome’s chief executive, said the deal was good news for the small company -- which employs researchers in Cambridge, England, and Heidelberg, Germany -- especially given the early stage of its research.

Cellzome’s most advanced drug project, which is not covered by the Glaxo deal, is still 12-18 months from clinical development.

"Getting 14 million pounds upfront in a pre-clinical deal is really quite good going," Edwards told Reuters.

The company has previously signed alliances with Novartis and Johnson & Johnson .

Cellzome has developed a proprietary Kinobeads technology, which allows researchers to screen for compounds likely to work against key molecular switches in the body called kinases.

Edwards said the approach could be used to find new medicines for a range of other disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and cancer.

Cellzome’s backers include Advent International, Atlas Venture, Astellas Venture Capital, Biofrontier Partners, Heidelberg Innovation, Index Ventures, Invesco Private Capital, SV Life Sciences, SG Asset Management and Sofinnova Partners.

Edwards said an initial public offering was a possibility for the company at some stage.

(Editing by Sue Thomas)