Aptanomics to validate
targets and identify new druggable sites for Boehringer Ingelheim
Lyon, France, 1st August 2005 - Boehringer
Ingelheim and Aptanomics SA, a specialist in the application of
innovative peptide aptamer technologies for drug discovery, announced
today that they have signed a collaboration agreement on aptamer based
target validation and drug discovery. Financial terms were not
disclosed.
Pursuant to the agreement, Aptanomics will provide Boehringer with a
panel of its proprietary peptide aptamers and characterize the
consequence of binding to therapeutic targets.
"We are delighted to be working with Boehringer Ingelheim on these
important targets. Our peptide aptamer approach is well suited to take
on challenging targets and our outstanding record for successfully
identifying potent small molecule hits in our in-house programs gives us
the confidence that we will achieve the goals of the current
collaboration," said Dr. Michael Courtney, Aptanomics CEO.
"Aptanomics' technology may have the potential to complement our
in-house target validation and drug discovery efforts," said Dr Michel
Pairet, Senior Vice-President Research, Boehringer Ingelheim, Biberach/Riss
(Germany). "We look forward to evaluating the feasibility of the peptide
aptamer approach and anticipate a valuable collaboration."
About Peptide Aptamers:
Peptide aptamers are used to comprehensively interrogate the target for
druggable sites and assign and prioritize the biological relevance of
the newly revealed sites. The peptide aptamer is then seamlessly
incorporated directly into a chemical library screen to identify small
molecules that displace the peptide aptamer and mimic its activity. In
this manner, the peptide aptamers are used to guide drug discovery and
identify those small molecules that hit the most relevant druggable site
on the target. Aptanomics has successfully employed its proprietary
approach to a number of in-house programs in the oncology field and has
two products in lead optimization. The peptide aptamer technology has
broad applicability across most if not all disease indications.
About Boehringer Ingelheim:
www.boehringer-ingelheim.com
The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world's 20 leading
pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it
operates globally with 144 affiliates in 45 countries and nearly 36,000
employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has
been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing
novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary
medicine. In 2004, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of 8.2 billion
euro while spending nearly one fifth of net sales in its largest
business segment, Prescription Medicines, on research and development.
About Aptanomics SA:
www.aptanomics.com
Aptanomics is a privately held biopharmaceutical company founded in 2001
to exploit technology developed at Massachusetts General Hospital and
Harvard Medical School. Aptanomics has an extensive patent portfolio and
exclusive rights covering the use of peptide aptamers for drug discovery
or as biological therapeutics.
Aptanomics supports internal drug discovery programs in the field of
oncology and pursues additional drug discovery and development programs
in partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. Aptanomics uses its
peptide aptamers to reveal new druggable sites on therapeutic targets,
map the sites on the targets, profile the biological effect of
intervention at the sites, and to directly identify and develop small
molecule antagonists that bind to the desired sites. Aptanomics is based
in Lyon, France
For further information, please contact:
Andrew Lloyd & Associates
Andrew Lloyd / Heidi Thompson
Tel: +44 1273 675100
allo@ala.com /
heidi@ala.com
