XERION PHARMACEUTICALS AND ARIUS RESEARCH SIGN COLON CANCER COLLABORATION

Martinsried, Germany and Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA - October 15, 2002…Xerion Pharmaceuticals and ARIUS Research Inc. of Canada announced today that they would combine their respective strengths in functional proteomics and antibody discovery to jointly develop products for cancer therapy. Xerion will take four antibodies from ARIUS’ functional antibody library and apply its Xstream™ process to evaluate their therapeutic potential in cancer. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will share revenues from outlicensed targets, co-develop the targets or pay the other party for an exclusive license to the targets.

The agreement follows Xerion’s recent target characterization and drug discovery research collaboration with Cambridge Antibody Technology plc to investigate new mechanisms of intervention in allergic disease.

Xerion’s core technology has been used to functionally validate more than fifty proteins in a disease-relevant biological context. ARIUS contributes functional antibodies generated through its proprietary discovery process. ARIUS has already shown that antibodies in its library can have dramatic anti-cancer properties. Examples include ARVitamab®, which shows anti-metastatic effects in an aggressive model of human lung cancer in addition to controlling tumour size, and two anti-breast cancer antibodies, ARH460-16-2, and ARH460-22-1, which produce almost complete tumour suppression in a model of human breast cancer. 

“Working in collaboration with ARIUS, we expect to identify high quality novel targets and increase our pipeline of validated targets. This relationship provides us with an additional pathway for developing more therapeutic antibody leads,” said Dr. Markus Ewert, President and CEO of Xerion. “Xerion is focused on rapidly turning its discovery efforts into generating viable therapeutic antibodies. We have internally generated therapeutic antibodies against cancer targets for which we intend to initiate pre-clinical studies next year. We look forward to working with ARIUS and to both parties expanding their therapeutic antibody development pipeline in treating cancer.”

Commenting on the collaboration ARIUS' President and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. David Young, said: “We are very pleased to be working with Xerion. A target’s value can be significantly enhanced by understanding its overall role in disease and Xerion’s core strength in target validation will be instrumental in maximizing this value. This deal signals to the investment community that we are meeting our business objectives and executing our business plan. Our efficiency in producing functional antibodies gives us the unique ability to enter into partnerships on multiple fronts for expertise and other resources that complement our set of strengths to rapidly increase the value of our antibody and technologies and meet our financial objectives”.

Xerion Pharmaceuticals is a privately held transatlantic biopharmaceutical company that bridges the process from target discovery to drug development in an unprecedented manner: Integrated functional identification and evaluation of disease relevant drug targets is followed by therapeutic antibody development against these high quality targets. These competencies enable Xerion and its partners to advance into the drug development process at accelerated speed. Its functional proteomics platform (Xcelerate® and XCALIbur®) directly addresses protein function, enabling rapid and precise target identification and validation. Xerion is headquartered in Martinsried, Germany and its subsidiary Xerion Pharmaceuticals Inc. is based in Cambridge, MA, USA.

For more information go to www.xerion-pharma.com.

ARIUS Research Inc. is a medical biotechnology company committed to the rapid discovery and development of functional anti-cancer antibodies. To date, through its proprietary approach to antibody generation, ARIUS has established a library of over 100 functional antibodies. Current research is focused on breast, colorectal, lung cancer and melanoma. Working independently and through partnerships, ARIUS intends to expand its research into related areas, including other gastro-intestinal cancers, ovarian and prostate cancers. The long-term vision of the company is to deliver personalized therapy through groups of monoclonal antibodies. Shares of ARIUS Research Inc. are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “YAR”.

For more information go to www.ariusresearch.com 

For further information contact:
Tobias Lehmacher
Xerion Pharmaceuticals AG
Fraunhoferstrasse 9
D-82152 Martinsried (Munich) Germany
Tel: +49-89-86 307-131
Fax: +49-89-86 307-111

E-mail: t.lehmacher@xerion-pharma.com 

Yukari Perrella
Xerion Pharmaceuticals Inc.
One Broadway, Suite 600
Cambridge, MA 02142
Tel: (617) 621-7123
Fax: (617) 621-7124
E-mail: y.perrella@xerion-pharma.com 

Helen Findlay
Vice President
ARIUS Research Inc.
55 York Street, 16th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5J 1R7
Tel: (416) 862-2323 x223
Fax: (416) 862-9696
E-mail: hfindlay@ariusresearch.com