Collaboration with J&J

22 Jan 2007 07:01

Sareum Holdings PLC22 January 2007 For immediate release 22 January 2007 SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC ("Sareum" or the "Company") Sareum to Collaborate With Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drug discoverybusiness, announced today that it has entered into an initial 12-monthcollaborative agreement with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research andDevelopment (J&JPRD), a Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. Under the terms of the agreement, Sareum will apply its skills in highthroughput protein structure determination to assist J&JPRD scientists indeveloping new and improved therapeutics to help patients suffering fromdiseases of the central nervous system. In return, Sareum will receivetechnology access fees and success-dependent milestone payments. Financialterms of the agreement were not disclosed. Commenting on the agreement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell,said: "We are very excited to collaborate with J&JPRD and look forward to usingour technology and expertise in this area to find new therapies for patients." For further information: Sareum Contacts:Sareum Holdings 01223 497700Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson, Simon Potter Notes for editors: 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