Sareum Regulatory News (SAR)

6 Mar 2008 07:01

Sareum Holdings PLC06 March 2008 For immediate release 6 March 2008 SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC ("Sareum" or the "Company") Research Update: Oncology Portfolio Sareum Holdings plc (Sareum) (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drugdiscovery company, is pleased to announce an additional in-house drug discoveryprogramme. Novel small molecule compounds have been discovered that areeffective against an important cancer drug discovery target and associatedpatent applications have been filed. This programme targets the enzyme Fatty Acid Synthase (FASN). High levels ofFASN are present in most cancer types and are associated with diminished patientsurvival. Reduction of FASN activity has been reported to lead to cancer celldeath and decreased tumour size in many different cancer models. Sareum has used its expertise in small molecule drug discovery to identify novelchemical compounds that inhibit the activity of FASN and show efficacy in cancercell survival models. The Company aims to develop these compounds intopotential therapies for a wide range of cancers. This programme is currently wholly owned by Sareum and forms part of a robustand expanding internal oncology portfolio, which also includes the CHK1, Aurora,FLT, PLK1 and B-RAF Kinase programmes which were announced in February, May andOctober 2007. Commenting on the announcement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr TimMitchell, said: "This program represent a significant development in Sareum'sinternal drug candidate portfolio with key assets identified against importantcancer drug discovery targets. The development and ultimate commercialisationof these programs is a key value driver for the Company." For Further Information: Sareum Holdings plc 01223 497700 Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive OfficerBuchanan Communications 020 7466 5000 Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane JohnsonGrant Thornton Corporate Finance 020 7383 5100 Philip Secrett, Colin Aaronson Notes for editors: About FASN The FASN gene is significantly up-regulated in many types of cancer, includingcancers of the breast, lung, prostate, colon, blood, skin, ovary, pancreas andstomach, and FASN expression parallels increased cancer aggressiveness andcorrelates with poorer patient survival. FASN over-expression is considered tobe one of the most common molecular changes in cancer cells, but is expressed atminimum or undetectable levels in most normal tissues. Blocking FASN expressionor activity results in apoptosis of tumour cells and reduction of tumour volumesin cancer models. FASN inhibitors have been shown to be effective in killing cancer cells andreducing tumour volumes as stand-alone agents. They can also confer cancer cellswith higher levels of sensitivity to both traditional anti-cancerchemotherapeutics and the latest targeted therapies. Analysis of normal tissuesfollowing FASN inhibitor treatment in cancer models shows no adverse effects.For these reasons, FASN is considered to be an attractive target for anti-cancertherapy. About Sareum Holdings plc Sareum Holdings plc is a structure-based drug discovery business headquarteredin Cambridge, UK. The Company was formed in August 2003 to discover new drugsfor the treatment of cancer. 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 ofthe structure of the potential drugs and how they 'lock-in' to their targetprotein assists greatly in the development of high-quality drug candidates.Determining structure is a complex task and requires leading-edge equipment andexperienced staff. Sareum's approach to structure determination utilises itsproprietary protein expression platform in order to produce multiple recombinantproteins that accelerate structure determination using x-ray crystallography. Once the structure is determined, the Company's innovative fragment screeningplatform is used to identify novel chemical templates designed to interact withthe target protein. Sareum then uses its high-throughput medicinal chemistryplatform to rapidly optimise these molecules and develop the most promising intopotential drug candidates. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to largerpharmaceutical companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.This is funded by provision of its specialist drug discovery capabilities topartners in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. 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 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange