Morphochem enters Research Alliance with Alcon to develop novel ophthalmic compounds

Munich, Germany, 10th January 2005… Morphochem AG today announced that it has entered into a research alliance with Alcon Research, Ltd. to develop small molecule drugs against important ophthalmic targets. The alliance combines Morphochem’s compound design and synthesis capabilities and its biostructure group expertise with Alcon’s applied biology expertise, screening capabilities and development expertise.

Morphochem will use its evolutionary design and synthesis capabilities by applying its proprietary software - MolMind®, to make focused libraries for certain Alcon targets. It will also work on establishing the biostructure of one of the targets with the goal to identifying compounds from structurally novel compound classes.

Under the terms of the agreement, Alcon will retain the rights to any products for ophthalmic and nasal applications and Morphochem will retain certain rights to all other uses of drug candidates discovered during the alliance.

Alcon will pay Morphochem research payments, and undisclosed amounts through a series of development milestones and royalties on sales.

Dr. Sijmen de Vries, Chief Executive Officer at Morphochem says: "This collaboration fits well with our vision of working with partners to apply our integrated Discovery Engine to identify novel compounds outside of existing intellectual property. It further validates the strength of this approach, which allows for combinations of ligand based and target based input to identify such novel compounds."

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Notes:

Morphochem AG (www.morphochem.com) has developed a unique and highly integrated fast chemical genomics drug discovery platform that it has been applying to build its pipeline. The current lead products; MCM 17 a novel oral anti-thrombotic (Factor Xa inhibitor) and MCB3837 a unique OxaquinÒ Dual Action IV Hospital Antibiotic are planned to enter Clinical Trials during the second half of 2005. In addition, as the fast Discovery Engine enables “Fast Follower” development projects on “hot targets”, the Morphochem pipeline also contains a number of original lead- stage projects against various targets.

For further information please contact:

Morphochem:
Dr Sijmen de Vries, CEO
Tel: +49 (0)89 78 00 50
sijmen.devries@morphochem.de
Dr Peter Seufer Wasserthal
Tel: +43 (0)7673 321 511
peter.seufer@morphochem.de

Media relations:
Northbank Communications
Sue Charles