MARTINSRIED, Germany and NAGOYA, Japan, January 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 4SC AG , a German drug discovery and development company and Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co., Ltd., (SKK), an established, international pharmaceutical company headquartered in Nagoya, Japan today announced that they have achieved the first milestone and entered the next phase of their drug discovery collaboration which was started in January 2005.
To date 4SC has applied its proprietary virtual High Throughput Screening technology, 4SCan(r) to identify active agents against specific targets provided by SKK, followed by corresponding biological screening experiments. A dedicated team of 4SC scientists shall now further optimise hits and leads with respect to certain properties like potency, selectivity and their in vitro ADMET profile. The achievement of the first milestone triggers an undisclosed payment from SKK as well as the continuation of the partnership.
“We are extremely pleased with the quality and speed of the results achieved by 4SC,” commented Mr. Satoshi Terao, SKK’s Vice President for Research and Development. “In the last months we have built an excellent relationship and we are looking forward to a continued fruitful collaboration.”
“We are very proud that we have reached our first project milestone with SKK,” stated Dr Daniel Vitt, CSO of 4SC. “This success is yet another validation of the efficiency of our drug discovery platform and demonstrates the added value we can offer our partners within the biopharmaceutical industry worldwide.”
About Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co. Ltd .
SKK, a subsidiary of SUZUKEN, the largest pharmaceutical wholesaler in Japan, is a fully-integrated pharmaceutical company headquartered in Nagoya, Japan with established therapeutic and diagnostic products serving the diabetes, cardiovascular and inflammation marketplaces. SKK has an annual turnover of 44.8 billion yen, employs over 1,100 personnel. SKK’s mission is to develop new drugs with a `New Value` mainly in the diabetes and diabetes-related therapeutic areas.
Further information is available at: www. skk-net.com/eng/
About 4SC:
4SC (ISIN DE0005753818) develops novel drug candidates for inflammatory diseases and cancer using a cheminformatics based technology platform. Traditional high throughput screening of therapeutic agents has been transferred from the lab to the computer. Thus, the company offers substantial cost and time advantages as well as increased success rates in drug development. 4SC uses its patented technology platform to create a sustainable product pipeline for active agents that are developed in early clinical phases (“proof of concept”) and subsequently result in upfront and milestone payments as well as participation in sales generated by out-licensed products to the pharmaceutical industry. The pipeline currently has five projects, the first of which, on the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, has successfully completed clinical phase I. Preparations for the conduct of the IIa clinical phase are well under way. A further one to two other product candidates should go into clinical development in 2006. Furthermore, the company has its technology platform in co-operation projects with biotech and pharma companies and is already generating initial revenues.
This document may contain projections or estimates relating to plans and objectives relating to our future operations, products, or services; future financial results; or assumptions underlying or relating to any such statements; each of which constitutes a forward-looking statement subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Actual results could differ materially, depending on a number of factors.
For more information please contact: 4SC AG Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co. LTD Bettina von Klitzing Tadashi Miyahara Manager Public Relations Shinjuku 6-chome bldg. Am Klopferspitz 19a 6-24-16 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku D-82152 Martinsried, Germany Tokyo 160-0022, Japan Tel: +49-89-700-763-0 Tel: +81-3-3232-2601 eMail: Bettina.von.Klitzing@4sc.com eMail: t_miyahara@mb4.skk-net.comhttp://www.4sc.dehttp://www.skk-net.com/eng/
4SC AG
CONTACT: 4SC AG, Bettina von Klitzing, Manager Public Relations, AmKlopferspitz 19a, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany, Tel: +49-89-700-763-0,eMail: Bettina.von.Klitzing@4sc.com, http://www.4sc.de, Sanwa KagakuKenkyusho Co. LTD, Tadashi Miyahara, Shinjuku 6-chome bldg., 6-24-16Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022, Japan, Tel: +81-3-3232-2601, eMail:t_miyahara@mb4.skk-net.com, http://www.skk-net.com/eng/
