Sareum Regulatory News (SAR)

10 Aug 2005 07:00

Sareum Holdings PLC10 August 2005 For immediate release 10 August 2005 SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC ("Sareum" or the "Company") Collaboration with Leading Spanish Pharmaceutical Company Almirall Prodesfarma S.A. Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drug discoveryand services business, is pleased to announce that it has entered into acollaborative agreement with Almirall Prodesfarma S.A. ("Almirall"), a leadingSpanish multinational pharmaceutical company, to provide protein structuredetermination capabilities to accelerate drug discovery research at Almirall. Sareum will utilise its skills in high throughput protein expression,purification and structure determination with the aim of illustrating theprecise nature of how Almirall's potential drug candidates interact with theirtarget proteins. This information will assist Almirall's scientists in theirdesign of new and improved therapeutics against inflammatory diseases. Termswere not disclosed. Commenting on the agreement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell,said: "We are delighted that Almirall has chosen Sareum as their partner inprotein structure determination. This is a further important collaboration thatSareum has signed since we started trading on AIM. We look forward to successfuldelivery of this project to Almirall and to closing additional partnerships suchas this." Commenting on the agreement, Almiralls's General Director for Research &Development, Dr Jose Ma Palacios, said: "We consider protein structuredetermination as an essential element in a modern drug discovery strategy, andwe have high expectations that this collaboration with Sareum will allowAlmirall to significantly leverage its drug discovery capacity." For further information: Sareum Holdings +44 (0)1223 497700Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer Buchanan Communications +44 (0)20 7466 5000Mark Court, Mary-Jane Johnson Ketchum SEIS (for Almirall)Victoria Hernandez +34 91788 3200 Notes for editors: About Sareum Holdings plc Sareum Holdings plc is a specialist structure based drug discovery businessheadquartered in Cambridge, UK. The Company was formed in August 2003 todiscover new drugs for the treatment of cancer and to provide a range of drugdiscovery services to the pharmaceutical industry. Sareum's unique approach aimsto halve the time it takes to discover new drug candidates. Structure-based drug discovery involves the determination of a disease causingprotein's three-dimensional structure. Once the structure is known, novelchemical entities are designed to 'lock-in' to the protein with the aim ofreversing or arresting a disease's progression. Sareum's approach to structure based drug discovery is to produce multiplerecombinant proteins primarily through a baculovirus expression system;determine their structure using x-ray crystallography; and then use theCompany's template-molecule x-ray screening technology to identify new chemicalentities designed to interact with the target protein. Sareum then uses itshigh-throughput medicinal chemistry platform to rapidly synthesise furthermolecules and develop the most promising into potential drug candidates. Sareum offers its accelerated drug discovery capabilities on a fee basis to thepharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and also intends to license out anyinternally generated drug candidates at the Phase I or Phase II clinical trialsstage. 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 Almirall Almirall, a leading company committed to health, is a consolidated internationalpharmaceutical company that researches, develops and commercialises drugs fromits own R&D, as well as licensed drugs, with the aim of improving health andquality of life. Almirall focuses its drug discovery resources in therapeutic areas related tothe treatment of asthma, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), psoriasisand rheumatoid arthritis. Almirall will be investing 500 million euros in R&D over the next five years.This is the largest investment in this area by a Spanish pharmaceutical company.Forecasts for total sales in 2005 amount to 946 million euros. Almirall, whose headquarters are in Barcelona (Spain), has a staff of over 3,200people, approximately 500 of whom form part of the R&D team. Almirall currentlyhas a presence in more than 100 countries with its own products and productslicensed from other prestigious companies. The company is strengthening itsdirect presence in Europe and Latin America via affiliates. For more information you can visit the website: http://www.almirall.es This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange