Synairgen Regulatory News (SNG)

9 Mar 2005 07:01

Synairgen plc09 March 2005 9 March 2005 Synairgen signs collaboration agreement with Centocor Synairgen plc, based in Southampton, UK is pleased to announce a collaborationwith Centocor Inc of Pennsylvania USA, part of the Johnson and Johnson family ofcompanies. The details of the collaboration have not been disclosed. Centocor is a leading biopharmaceutical company that creates, acquires andmarkets cost-effective therapies that yield long-term benefits for patients andthe healthcare community. Centocor is dedicated to the research and developmentof treatments for a wide range of diseases including cancer, infectiousdiseases, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and Immune-Mediated InflammatoryDisorders (IMID), such as arthritis and inflammatory skin diseases. Centocor's products, developed primarily through monoclonal antibody technology,help physicians deliver innovative treatments to improve human health andrestore patients' quality of life. Synairgen specialises in respiratory diseases and is investigating theunderlying mechanisms of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)in order to develop new therapies. It has three collaborations in place alreadywith Cambridge Antibody Technology, Merck Frosst and a large North Americanbiotechnology company. Commenting on the collaboration, Richard Marsden, Managing Director said: "Weare pleased to announce our collaboration with Centocor. This is our fourthcollaboration since the Company started and we are delighted with the progresswe are making." -Ends- Synairgen Tel: 02380 512 800Richard Marsden Hogarth Partnership Tel: 020 7357 9477Melanie Toyne-Sewell / Georgina Briscoe Centocor Tel: 001 215 325 4010Michael Parks Notes for Editors:1. SynairgenSynairgen was founded by Professors Stephen Holgate, Donna Davies and RatkoDjukanovic (the Founders), a world-renowned respiratory research team from theUniversity of Southampton (the University), and spun-out from the University inJune 2003, supported by funding from IP2IPO Group plc. In October 2004 theCompany floated on AiM, raising £10.0 million (£9.0 million net of expenses) toenhance its research and development capabilities and invest in its proprietaryprogrammes. 2. AsthmaAccording to the World Health Organisation, between 100 and 150 million peoplearound the globe suffer from asthma and this number is rising. Asthma prevalencein the UK is now 3-4 times higher in adults and 6 times higher in children thanit was 25 years ago, and currently it accounts for 1,400 deaths in the UK peryear. In the United States, there are approximately 17-20 million sufferers andthe cost is estimated to be about $13 billion per annum. There are limitedtherapies available for severe asthma and the potential for treatmentssatisfying this largely unmet need is significant, as demonstrated by theprojected sales of $3.3 billion in 2012 for Xolair(R). 3. COPDCOPD encompasses a number of diseases, including the smoking-related lungdiseases, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The prevalence of COPD is estimatedat 16-17% in the US and Europe. Globally it is killing 2.7 million people perannum and is forecast to become the third largest cause of death in the world by2020. COPD is underserved by current treatments. Sales of pharmaceutical products used to treat asthma and COPD in majorpharmaceutical markets in 2002 were estimated to be $7.0 billion and $2.7billion respectively and are forecast to reach $12.8 billion and $5.8 billion in2012. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange