Frost & Sullivan Lauds AlgoNomics' Technology Innovation

LONDON, April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan presents the 2006 Technology Innovation Award in the field of structural bioinformatics for drug discovery to Belgium-based AlgoNomics NV for its pioneering Epibase(R) technology platform. Offering an innovative and efficient method of identifying T-cell epitopes, this platform has the potential to challenge current sequence-based methodologies.

"A platform for T-cell epitope identification, Epibase(R) analyses whether therapeutic protein leads show an increased risk for immunogenicity and helps researchers optimise protein leads," say Frost & Sullivan Research Analysts Ravi Shankar and Srimathy Raghuraman. "In other words, AlgoNomics' technology helps researchers avoid lengthy, expensive and overlapping peptide studies."

An in silico platform, Epibase(R) assists the drug development process at different stages. Researchers use this technology to compare the immunogenecity of drug leads where they compare the T-cell epitope content of large numbers of protein variants entering the drug development stage. By identifying the T-cell epitopes at the research level, certain drug leads can be rejected during the early stages of drug development. This facilitates the selection of the most promising protein leads and also helps in the removal of the epitopes while optimising the proteins.

In cases where HLA alleles are linked with diseases, Epibase(R) enables the exploration of drug candidates to check if they are safe for the targeted patient population. It identifies new T-cell epitopes based on structural bioinformatics and covers a broad range of HLA subtypes, such as the CTL and humoral responses. Further, it is also able to produce a high throughput on computer clusters. Moreover, Epibase(R) does not rely on public databases as did earlier tools such as Bimas, Tepitope, Epimatrix or Propred.

"Vis-a-vis peptide synthesis and HLA presentation experiments, Epibase(R) performs much faster screening and provides more cost-effective information delivery," note Mr. Shankar and Ms. Raghuraman. "More importantly, Epibase(R) helps researchers avoid lengthy, expensive overlapping peptide studies, which translates into cost reductions of over 100.000 euro per protein analysed, and a gain in speed of two weeks when compared to the typical three to six months needed for traditional tests.

AlgoNomics' focus on structural bioinformatics R&D - which yielded this groundbreaking technology platform - will continue, with the company working on HLA subtypes with impact in countries such as China, India, Indonesia, and Japan, as well as the Hispanic and Black-American population groups.

AlgoNomics collaborates with a wide range of companies such as Cambridge Antibody Technologies, Genmab, GSK, Evogenix, J&J Tibotec, Innogenetics, Ablynx, Bayer Cropscience, and Evolutec.

The Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Innovation is presented each year to the company (or individual) that has carried out new research, which has resulted in innovation(s) that have or are expected to bring significant contributions to the industry in terms of adoption, change and competitive posture.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About AlgoNomics

AlgoNomics is a Belgium based biotech company that provides structural bioinformatics services to develop rationally designed therapeutics in the broad field of immunotherapy. AlgoNomics offers in silico support to companies that develop rationally designed vaccines and therapeutic proteins.

AlgoNomics owns a rich, proprietary platform for structure-based protein and peptide design. The technology platform contains biologically validated, innovative tools, which have been developed in-house. AlgoNomics' premier product is the Epibase(R) platform for T-cell epitope identification in different population groups.

For more information about AlgoNomics and Epibase(R) visit www.algonomics.com or contact

AlgoNomics N.V. ir. Philippe Stas Chief Operating Officer Technologiepark 4 B-9052 Gent - Belgium Tel.: +32-(0)9-241-11-00 Fax.: +32-(0)9-241-11-02 Philippe.Stas@algonomics.com About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community, by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit www.frost.com or contact

Frost & Sullivan Kristina Menzefricke Promotions Manager, Best Practices - EMEA +44-(0)-207-343-8376 kristina.menzefricke@frost.com

CONTACT: AlgoNomics N.V., ir. Philippe Stas, Chief Operating Officer,Tel.: +32-(0)9-241-11-00, Fax.: +32-(0)9-241-11-02,Philippe.Stas@algonomics.com or Frost & Sullivan, Kristina Menzefricke,Promotions Manager, Best Practices - EMEA, Tel: +44-(0)-207-343-8376,kristina.menzefricke@frost.com