|
||
| |||||||
|
Inpharmatica signs PharmaCarta[TM] discovery collaboration with Procter & Gamble
Inpharmatica and P&G will
pool resources and expertise to analyse human G-protein coupled receptors
London, UK, May 18, 2004 --
Inpharmatica Ltd, the selective drug discovery company, today announced that
it has signed a discovery collaboration agreement with Procter and Gamble
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (P&GP), a subsidiary of The Procter and Gamble
Company (NYSE: PG). Under the terms of the agreement, P&GP will fund a
research program at Inpharmatica and pay additional license fees to use
discoveries arising from the collaboration. Inpharmatica's flagship
discovery platform, PharmaCarta[TM], will play a key role in the
collaboration.
The collaboration goal will be to
develop robust computational structure models and identify chemotypes for
families of human G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), the protein targets
which have proven most useful in the development of new drugs.
Inpharmatica will apply proprietary elements of PharmaCarta[TM], its unique
drug discovery platform. Specifically, the Chematica[TM] component will
provide three dimensional homology modelling, drug binding site identification
and mapping techniques and proprietary databases such as StARLITe[TM] will
identify corresponding tractable chemical hits and GPCR family chemotypes.
Inpharmatica has successfully
applied its PharmaCarta[TM] technology platform in collaboration with a number
of pharmaceutical and biotech companies. It also forms the basis for
Inpharmatica's own highly successful in-house discovery program.
PharmaCarta[TM] has been applied for generating pre-clinical leads in nuclear
receptors, Inpharmatica's lead program, and for other on-going research
programs.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr Malcolm Weir, CEO at Inpharmatica said:
"P&GP is a leading
pharmaceutical company and this agreement constitutes a very exciting program
for Inpharmatica. It will allow the Company to use its cutting edge
technologies to address the problem of identifying new drugs targeted to
members of one of the most important families of drug targets. Through
this collaboration, P&GP will gain access to our extensive suite of world
class drug discovery tools and to our considerable expertise in molecular
modelling and cheminformatics. As a result, Inpharmatica will further
build its skills and knowledge in the area of GPCRs, substantially increasing
opportunities for internal discovery and revenue generation. We look forward
to a mutually beneficial and productive relationship with P&GP."
Commenting on the announcement, Dr Joseph Gardner, Director of Chemistry and Discovery Technologies at P&G Pharmaceuticals said:
"We are always looking for
ways to increase productivity in drug discovery, and collaboration with
Inpharmatica will move us toward that goal. PharmaCarta[TM] and Inpharmatica's
know-how in the field of cheminformatics will make a significant contribution
to our drug discovery. We expect our joint efforts to bring benefits to
both sides."
About Inpharmatica : (www.inpharmatica.com)
Founded in 1998, Inpharmatica Ltd is a selective drug discovery company using predictive technologies to improve speed and productivity. Focusing on highly druggable targets, its unique proprietary platform, PharmaCarta, is an integrated suite of informatics-based technologies fully capable of gene-to-candidate operations. Inpharmatica's lead discovery program is focused on generating pre-clinical candidates against 16 novel nuclear receptors - proteins widely considered to be both druggable and of high therapeutic interest. Other significant programmes include novel secreted proteins/antibody targets, ion channels, P450 enzymes, metalloproteinases and progestin receptors. Inpharmatica's initial technology was based on research from Professor Janet Thornton's group at University College London. The Company employs approximately 100 professionals at its UK locations in London and Cambridge, with business development headed in North America. Inpharmatica has raised some £35.0m from leading venture capitalists and has sales/collaboration partnerships with Serono, Pfizer, GSK, Aventis, Daiichi, Riken, Taisho, UCB Pharma, MDL, Ionix, CellZome and Galapagos. About P&G
Two billion times a day, P&G
brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the
largest and strongest portfolios of trusted, quality brands, including
Pampers[R], Tide[R], Ariel[R], Always[R], Whisper[R], Pantene[R], Bounty[R],
Pringles[R], Folgers[R], Charmin[R], Downy[R], Lenor[R], Iams[R], Crest[R],
Actonel[R], Olay[R] and Clairol Nice 'n Easy[R]. The P&G community
consists of nearly 98,000 employees working in almost 80 countries worldwide.
Please visit www.pg.com for the latest
news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.
For further information please
contact:
Andrew Lloyd,
Andrew Lloyd & Associates +44 1273 675100
m.weir@inpharmatica.co.u
k
Dr Vimal Mehta, Sr. VP Business Development, Inpharmatica Ltd +1 203 453 6525 |
|
| ||||||||