Eli Lilly and Company Announces Chemogenomics Technology Alliance And Research Collaboration Agreement With Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the leader in the expanding fields of toxico- and chemogenomics, announced today that it entered into a research and license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company . Iconix will receive compensation from Lilly in exchange for access to Iconix's DrugMatrix(R) chemogenomics system and its Drug Signatures(R) library.
DrugMatrix is a reference source of information on the genomic effects of drug and chemical treatments. To date, Iconix scientists have analyzed DrugMatrix to discover over 300 Drug Signatures -- sets of genes that serve as genomic biomarkers for the prediction of the potential toxicological, mechanistic, and side effect properties of a pre-clinical drug candidate.
Lilly will use Iconix's chemogenomics technology in efforts to better prioritize and select candidate drug molecules and to improve Lilly's understanding of the safety and mechanistic profiles of new proprietary compounds prior to and during pre-clinical development, and also during clinical development.
The research collaboration calls for the addition of new compounds and tissues to DrugMatrix in several key areas resulting in a database with greater depth and breadth, and additional Drug Signatures for these new chemistry and tissue domains. Additionally, as part of the agreement, Lilly will integrate its in-house toxicogenomics data with that in Iconix's DrugMatrix.
"Over the past several years, toxicogenomics has been growing in importance as a critical tool for discovery," said Jim Neal, CEO, Iconix Pharmaceuticals. "Lilly's commitment to Iconix and its technology is further recognition of the value of the DrugMatrix system as a means to screen drug candidate safety and to prioritize compounds for development. We see this as a key step in the adoption of chemogenomics by the wider pharmaceutical industry."
This relationship is similar in scope to the collaborations Iconix entered into with Bristol-Myers Squibb and Abbott, both in January 2004.
About Iconix:
Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is pioneering the new fields of toxico- and chemogenomics, the integration of chemistry and genomics to profile drug candidates. Iconix's technologies enable pharmaceutical companies to increase the odds of advancing the right compounds to the clinic, reducing attrition rates and the costs of drug discovery. Iconix provides reference systems and know-how to predict toxic liabilities, side effects and mechanisms of action for drug candidates. The company has collaborations with Bristol Myers Squibb, Abbott Laboratories, ICOS, Schering-Plough , AstraZeneca, Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Eisai Co., Ltd. and other leading companies. Iconix also provides research, training and support to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) under an agreement to advance CDER's study of the application of genomic technologies in the regulatory approval process. Iconix's DrugMatrix system has been installed at the FDA for use by CDER scientists and reviewers in a diverse range of chemogenomics applications. The company also has strategic partnerships with leading life sciences companies including MDS Pharma Services and GE Healthcare.
Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Iconix was founded in 1998 and is privately held. For more information, visit www.iconixpharm.com.
Company Contacts: Iconix Pharmaceuticals Alan Engelberg 650-567-5527 aengelberg@iconixpharm.com For Iconix Pharmaceuticals Jennifer Larson 415-946-1074 jlarson@weisscommpartners.com
Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.CONTACT: Alan Engelberg of Iconix Pharmaceuticals, +1-650-567-5527, oraengelberg@iconixpharm.com; or Jennifer Larson of Weisscomm,+1-415-946-1074, or jlarson@weisscommpartners.com, for IconixPharmaceuticals
Web site: http://www.iconixpharm.com/