Sareum Regulatory News (SAR)

8 Jun 2006 07:00

Sareum Holdings PLC08 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 discoverybusiness, is pleased to announce the achievement of key success milestones inits collaboration with Schering AG (FSE: SCH, NYSE: SHR). In this collaboration, first announced in October 2005, Sareum has succeeded inusing X-ray crystallography to determine, on schedule, the three-dimensionalstructure of one of Schering's drug discovery research targets. To the best ofour knowledge, Sareum is the only organization to have successfully determinedthe structure of this target. As a result of this achievement, Sareum hasreceived success milestone payments. Sareum will continue to provide structureinformation to support Schering's drug discovery research on this target inreturn 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 inthis important collaboration. The successful determination of this difficult andpreviously un-solved protein structure further demonstrates our leading positionin structure-based drug discovery research." For further information: Sareum Holdings 01223 497700Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson 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 Schering AG Schering AG is a research-based pharmaceutical company. Its activities arefocused on four business areas: Gynecology&Andrology, Oncology, DiagnosticImaging as well as Specialized Therapeutics for disabling diseases. As a globalplayer with innovative products Schering AG aims for leading positions inspecialized markets worldwide. With in-house R&D and supported by an excellentglobal network of external partners, Schering AG is securing a promising productpipeline. Using new ideas, Schering AG aims to make a recognized contribution tomedical progress and strives to improve the quality of life: making medicinework This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange