RiboTargets joins Partnership for Structural Biology at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

(Cambridge UK, January 23, 2003)  RiboTargets, the structure-based drug discovery company that develops novel cancer and anti-bacterial therapeutics, announced today that it has joined the new Partnership for Structural Biology (PSB) established at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF).  Associate membership of the PSB will provide guaranteed access to beamlines at ESRF, providing the intense X-ray source needed for the high-performance crystallography that underpins RiboTargets’ approach to structure-based drug discovery.

Prof Rod Hubbard, Director of Structural Sciences at RiboTargets said, “Access to the third generation synchrotron facilities at ESRF is essential for our structure-based drug discovery programmes on ribosome subunits, and is providing the throughput for rapid progress in our protein projects.  We are delighted to have been invited to support this new development at the ESRF and look forward to a continued, mutually productive collaboration.”

The PSB will ensure that the structural and molecular biology methods and resources being developed and maintained at ESRF will support the needs of pharmaceutical research in the search for new medicines.  In addition, the partnership will play a leading role in various large-scale structural biology initiatives now under way in Europe.

Prof Bill Stirling, Director-General of ESRF commented, “The PSB initiative aims to create an environment for leading edge structural biology second to none in Europe and competitive at the world level.  I am very pleased to have RiboTargets, one of the UK’s premiere small pharmaceutical companies as an Associate member of the partnership.”

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For more information, please contact

Rod Hubbard	James Parkinson
Director of Structural Sciences	Northbank Communications Ltd
RiboTargets Ltd	Meadowside
Granta Park, Cambridge, CB1 6GB, UK	Mountbatten Way, Congleton, CW12 1DN, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1223 895555 Fax: +44 (0)1223 895556	Tel: +44 (0)1260 296500 Fax: +44 (0)1260 296501
r.hubbard@ribotargets.com	j.parkinson@northbankcommunications.com

Notes to Editors

About RiboTargets Ltd

RiboTargets is a privately owned pharmaceutical drug discovery company focused on the development of novel anti-bacterial and anti-cancer therapeutics.  These therapeutic areas represent significant market opportunities.

The Company has created and validated a proprietary structure-based drug discovery engine that allows the rapid identification and optimisation of drug candidates against both protein and nucleic acid targets using high throughput computer-aided and experimental drug design.

Over the last four years, RiboTargets has made the transition from a technology platform company into a competitive drug discovery company.  RiboTargets’ goal for 2002 is to make the pivotal step from research into formal drug development.  In the longer term, RiboTargets aims to become a significant player in the anti-bacterial and anti-cancer markets.
Website: www.ribotargets.com

About PSB

The PSB has been set up by four major research institutes - the ESRF, one of the world’s leading synchrotron X-ray source, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL, Grenoble Outstation), the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), a world centre for neutron scattering, and the Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS) - to pursue an integrated European Programme in Structural Biology and thus play a leading role in the various large-scale structural biology initiatives now under way in Europe. Selected groups, including established pharmaceutical enterprises and promising start-up biotechnology companies, have been invited to back developments by becoming Associate Members. In addition to the new, dual-station X-ray beamline, new laboratory and office space will act as a focus for structural biology on the site.
Website: http://psb.esrf.fr