Sareum Holdings PLC
08 June 2006
For immediate release 8 June 2006
SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC
("Sareum" or the "Company")
Success Milestones Reached in Collaboration with Schering AG
Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drug discovery
business, is pleased to announce the achievement of key success milestones in
its collaboration with Schering AG (FSE: SCH, NYSE: SHR).
In this collaboration, first announced in October 2005, Sareum has succeeded in
using X-ray crystallography to determine, on schedule, the three-dimensional
structure of one of Schering's drug discovery research targets. To the best of
our knowledge, Sareum is the only organization to have successfully determined
the structure of this target. As a result of this achievement, Sareum has
received success milestone payments. Sareum will continue to provide structure
information to support Schering's drug discovery research on this target in
return for further success milestone payments.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Commenting on the agreement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell,
said: "We are extremely pleased to have achieved these success milestones in
this important collaboration. The successful determination of this difficult and
previously un-solved protein structure further demonstrates our leading position
in structure-based drug discovery research."
For further information:
Sareum Holdings 01223 497700
Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer
Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000
Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson
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
About Schering AG
Schering AG is a research-based pharmaceutical company. Its activities are
focused on four business areas: Gynecology&Andrology, Oncology, Diagnostic
Imaging as well as Specialized Therapeutics for disabling diseases. As a global
player with innovative products Schering AG aims for leading positions in
specialized markets worldwide. With in-house R&D and supported by an excellent
global network of external partners, Schering AG is securing a promising product
pipeline. Using new ideas, Schering AG aims to make a recognized contribution to
medical progress and strives to improve the quality of life: making medicine
work
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange