Sareum Regulatory News (SAR)

31 Aug 2006 07:01

Sareum Holdings PLC31 August 2006 For immediate release 31 August 2006 SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC ("Sareum" or the "Company") NOVEL COMPOUNDS DISCOVERED IN CANCER DRUG DISCOVERY COLLABORATION Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drug discoverybusiness, is pleased to announce that substantial progress has been made in itsjoint cancer drug discovery collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research(The Institute), Europe's leading cancer research centre, and Cancer ResearchTechnology Limited (CRT), the oncology-focused development and commercialisationcompany. Sareum, The Institute and CRT have discovered novel compound serieswhich show efficacy in cancer cell models. The collaboration, which was announced in July 2005, has discovered severalnovel compound series that target a specific enzyme in a key biochemicalpathway, responsible for preventing the effectiveness of traditional cancertherapeutics such as chemotherapy. In the collaboration the team is now workingto fully optimise a leading series of compounds to provide a validated candidateto take forward into clinical development. The new cancer therapeuticsdeveloped will potentially allow effective treatment of tumours which currentlydo not respond to current treatments as well as lowering the dose required ofexisting therapies to reduce adverse side effects. Sareum has used its expertise in structure-based drug discovery to identifynovel compounds using its innovative Template Screening technology. Thesecompound series have been rapidly progressed utilizing Sareum's high throughputmedicinal chemistry and structure determination platforms combined with the drugscreening, specialist cancer biology and medicinal chemistry expertise at TheCancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics at The Institute. Under the terms of the agreement CRT will commercialise the drug candidatesdeveloped by the collaboration to secure future clinical development. Payments,milestones and royalties received by CRT will be shared with Sareum and TheInstitute. Commenting on the agreement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell,said: "The quality of the science and technology applied to this collaborationhas led to outstanding progress. This demonstrates Sareum's ongoing commitmentto the discovery of new treatments to meet unmet medical needs in cancer. Weare now looking forward to advancing our novel chemical series through toclinical candidate nomination next year." Professor Paul Workman, Director of The Cancer Research UK Centre for CancerTherapeutics at The Institute of Cancer Research, said: "The addition ofSareum's powerful technology platform to our own in-depth expertise in thedevelopment of targeted molecular therapeutics has allowed us to move forwardvery rapidly on this exciting and important target. Development of a drugagainst this target would benefit patients who are currently resistant tocurrent treatments." For further information please contact: Sareum Holdings plc 01223 497700 Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000 Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson The Institute of Cancer Research 020 7153 5359Nadia Ramsey, Science Press Officer Cancer Research Technology Limited 0207 269 3640Nick Wells, Head of Marketing Notes for editors: About Sareum Holdings plc Sareum Holdings plc is a structure-based drug discovery business headquarteredin Cambridge, UK. Sareum Limited was formed in August 2003 to discover new drugsfor the treatment of cancer and to provide a range of drug discovery services tothe pharmaceutical industry. Sareum's unique approach aims to halve the time ittakes to discover new drug candidates. A structure-based approach to drug discovery relies on knowledge of thethree-dimensional structure of the proteins that cause disease. Once thestructure is known, potential drugs are designed to 'lock-in' to the proteinwith the aim of reversing or arresting a disease's progression. Knowledge of thestructure of the potential drugs and how they 'lock-in' to the protein permitsthe best potential drug to be discovered. Determining structure is a complextask and requires leading-edge equipment and experienced staff. Sareum'sapproach to structure determination is to produce multiple recombinant proteinsprimarily through a baculovirus expression system and to determine theirstructure using x-ray crystallography. When the structure is determined, the Company's innovative Template Screeningplatform is used to identify novel chemical starting material designed tointeract with the target protein. Sareum then uses its high-throughput medicinalchemistry platform to rapidly optimise these molecules and develop the mostpromising into potential drug candidates. Sareum provides its specialist drug discovery capabilities to partners in thepharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The Company aims to successfullydeliver: Programmes for complete gene-to-candidate structure-based discovery;projects to accelerate or improve the productivity of specific activities; anddrug 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 andtrades under the symbol SAR. For further information, please visitwww.sareum.co.uk. About The Institute of Cancer Research The Institute of Cancer Research is Europe's leading cancer research centre withexpert scientists working on cutting edge research. It was founded in 1909 tocarry out research into the causes of cancer and to develop new strategies forits prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care. For more information please visitwww.icr.ac.uk The Institute works in a unique partnership with the Royal Marsden NHSFoundation Trust, forming the largest comprehensive cancer centre in Europe. TheInstitute is unrivalled in its record in cancer drug discovery and development. The Institute is a charity that relies on voluntary income. The Institute is ahighly cost-effective major cancer research organisation with over 90p in every£ directly supporting research. About Cancer Research Technology Limited Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT) is an oncology-focused development andcommercialisation company that realises cancer patient benefit from publicly-funded research worldwide. CRT works closely with leading international cancerscientists, their institutes and funding bodies to protect, develop andcommercialise oncology-related discoveries. CRT is wholly owned by CancerResearch UK, the largest independent funder of cancer research in the world.Further information about CRT can be found at www.cancertechnology.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange