Sareum Regulatory News (SAR)

13 Jul 2006 07:01

Sareum Holdings PLC13 July 2006 For immediate release 13 July 2006 SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC ("Sareum" or the "Company") Extension of Collaboration with Almirall Prodesfarma S.A. Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drug discoveryand services business, and Almirall Prodesfarma S.A. ("Almirall"), the leadingSpanish multinational pharmaceutical company, are pleased to announce that theyhave extended their collaborative agreement for Sareum to provide proteinstructure determination capabilities to accelerate drug discovery research atAlmirall. Following successful completion of the collaboration announced in August 2005,Sareum will continue to utilise its skills in protein structure determinationwith the aim of further illustrating the precise nature of how Almirall'spotential drug candidates interact with their target proteins. This informationhas been of great assistance to Almirall's scientists in their design of new andimproved therapeutics against inflammatory diseases. Terms were not disclosed. Commenting on the agreement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell,said: "We are delighted that Almirall have chosen to continue with Sareum as apartner in protein structure determination. We seek to deliver the highestquality research services to our clients, and maintaining relationships withimportant customers such as Almirall is clear evidence of our success in doingthis." Commenting on the agreement, Almirall's, Executive Director for the R&D area,Per-Olof Andersson, said: "The resolution of the crystal structure ofcompound-protein complexes has permitted the elucidation of the mode of bindingof different compound families to the target protein. This has been aninestimable help in the design of novel potential drug candidates with greaterpotency and selectivity for this therapeutic target in rheumatoid arthritis. Weare, therefore, pleased to extend our successful collaboration with Sareum, sothat our scientists can continue to rely on this powerful research tool. " For further information: Sareum Holdings 01223 497700 Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000 Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson Ketchum SEISVictoria Hernandez / Carla Cudos +34 91788 3200 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 Almirall Almirall is an international pharmaceutical company that researches, developsand commercialises its own R&D and licensed specialities with the aim ofimproving health and quality of life. Almirall is to invest 750 million euros in R&D over the next five years. Thetherapeutic areas on which Almirall focuses its research resources are relatedto the treatment of asthma, COPD, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. Almirall, whose headquarters are in Barcelona (Spain), has a staff of over 3,200people, 500 of whom work in R&D and with approximately 1.000 workinginternationally in Almirall's affiliate companies. Almirall is currently present in approximately 100 countries. The company hasdirect presence in Europe and Latin America via affiliates. For more information: www.almirall.es This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange