ActivX Biosciences, Inc. and Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., LTD. Sign Drug Discovery Agreement for Diabetes Program
June 4, 2002
LA JOLLA, California, June 4, 2002 . ActivX Biosciences, Inc. of La Jolla, California, a leader in the field of activity-based proteomics, and Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan today announced that they have entered into a three-year collaboration to identify and optimize drug candidates for type II diabetes. Under the agreement, ActivX has primary responsibility for assay development, screening, profiling and selectivity analysis of hit and lead compounds, and Kyorin has primary responsibility for medicinal chemistry and animal pharmacology, as well as clinical development. Kyorin receives worldwide rights to manufacture and market drug products resulting from the collaboration. ActivX will receive ongoing research support, milestone payments and royalties on products commercialized by Kyorin. In addition, ActivX receives rights to pursue certain compounds discovered to have utility in other disease areas. Financial details were not disclosed.
"Kyorin strives to compete on an international level in drug discovery research. To be successful, we recognize the need to access new technologies and know-how that will complement our capabilities and enhance our efforts. We selected ActivX as our first US biotechnology partner because we believe that its unique technologies for evaluating protein activity will accelerate our drug discovery process and provide us with a real competitive advantage as we build a franchise in metabolic disease," said Mr. Ikuo Ogihara, President of Kyorin Pharmaceutical.
"We are delighted that this first pharmaceutical collaboration for ActivX is also the first biotech drug discovery collaboration for Kyorin. Kyorin has an impressive record of developing innovative, effective and successful drugs, and their visionary management grasped the value of the ActivX technology at an early stage in our Company's growth," said John W. Kozarich, Ph.D., President & CEO of ActivX. "We anticipate that the synergy between Kyorin's drug discovery and development expertise and ActivX's high-throughput, activity-based proteomics technology should lead to safer and more effective drugs for diabetes."
About Kyorin Pharmaceutical
Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (www.kyorin-pharm.co.jp) is a fully integrated, research-oriented pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with a focus in the areas of infectious diseases, immunology and allergic diseases and metabolic diseases. Some of its key products and development compounds include Norfloxacin (first new quinolone antibiotic licensed to Merck and Co.), Gatifloxacin (novel new quinolone antibiotic licensed in the US to Bristol-Myers Squibb) and KRP-297 (novel PPARα/γ agonist licensed to Merck and Co.). It has extended its research capabilities through the establishment of Kyorin-Scotland Research Laboratories in conjunction with Scottish Biomedical Foundation Limited and with the formation of an affiliate company, Nisshin Kyorin Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.
About ActivX Biosciences
ActivX Biosciences, Inc., (www.activx.com), a privately held biotechnology company in La Jolla, California, is a pioneer in the field of activity-based proteomics, the identification and analysis of active proteins key in both normal and disease situations. By focusing on protein activity, ActivX addresses disease mechanisms directly, in contrast to standard genomics and proteomics techniques. ActivX technology includes novel chemistry integrated with a high-throughput protein analysis platform to rapidly interrogate the activities of proteins in all ranges of abundance in any biological sample, a process it has termed chemoproteomics. ActivX and its partners are using its proprietary technology to solve critical problems in drug discovery and development, including identifying novel drug targets and biomarkers, guiding the medicinal chemistry optimization of lead compounds through profiling and selectivity analysis against active proteins in target cells and tissues, and assessing efficacy and toxicity for candidate and established drugs.
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