Sareum Holdings PLC
20 November 2006
For immediate release 20 November 2006
SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC
("Sareum" or the "Company")
Multi-Target Genentech Agreement
Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drug discovery
business, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an initial 12-month
multi-target research services agreement with Genentech, Inc., a leading
biotechnology company.
Under the terms of this agreement, Sareum will apply its skills in high
throughput protein expression, purification and structure determination on
multiple drug discovery targets designated by Genentech.
In return, Sareum will receive research fees and may receive specific
success-dependent milestone payments, with a combined value in excess of $1.5
million. The agreement also provides an option to extend the agreement for a
further 12 months.
Commenting on the agreement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell,
said: "I am delighted that Genentech has chosen Sareum as a collaborator in
protein structure determination. I regard this multi-target collaboration as an
outstanding validation of Sareum's technology and expertise."
For further information:
Sareum Contacts:
Sareum Holdings 01223 497700
Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer
Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000
Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson, Simon Potter
Notes for editors:
About Sareum Holdings plc
Sareum Holdings plc is a structure-based drug discovery business headquartered
in Cambridge, UK. Sareum Limited was formed in August 2003 to discover new drugs
for the treatment of cancer and to provide a range of drug discovery services to
the pharmaceutical industry. Sareum's unique approach aims to halve the time it
takes to discover new drug candidates.
A structure-based approach to drug discovery relies on knowledge of the
three-dimensional structure of the proteins that cause disease. Once the
structure is known, potential drugs are designed to 'lock-in' to the protein
with the aim of reversing or arresting a disease's progression. Knowledge of the
structure of the potential drugs and how they 'lock-in' to the protein permits
the best potential drug to be discovered. Determining structure is a complex
task and requires leading-edge equipment and experienced staff. Sareum's
approach to structure determination is to produce multiple recombinant proteins
primarily through a baculovirus expression system and to determine their
structure using x-ray crystallography.
When the structure is determined, the Company's innovative Template Screening
platform is used to identify novel chemical starting material designed to
interact with the target protein. Sareum then uses its high-throughput medicinal
chemistry platform to rapidly optimise these molecules and develop the most
promising into potential drug candidates.
Sareum provides its specialist drug discovery capabilities to partners in the
pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The Company aims to successfully
deliver: Programmes for complete gene-to-candidate structure-based discovery;
projects to accelerate or improve the productivity of specific activities; and
drug candidates for licensing at the Phase I or Phase II clinical trials stage.
Sareum joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2004 and
trades under the symbol SAR. For further information, please visit
www.sareum.co.uk
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange