AstraZeneca PLC and CrystalGenomics Form Research Collaboration to Develop Novel Anti-Infective Treatments
SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- AstraZeneca and CrystalGenomics (KOSDAQ: CRYSTAL [A083790]) announced today that they have entered into a research collaboration to discover and develop a novel anti-infective for use as a potential antibacterial agent.
This is the first such infection research collaboration AstraZeneca has entered into with a Korean-based company and further demonstrates its commitment to Asia.
The goal of the collaboration is to generate optimized lead compounds against a pre-agreed bacterial target, furthering AstraZeneca's ability to progress novel targets in this important therapeutic area. To accomplish this, CrystalGenomics will use its structure-based drug discovery platform technology to optimise selected novel scaffolds from AstraZeneca's proprietary compound library against an antibacterial target which has been validated by AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca and CrystalGenomics will perform in-vitro enzyme and cell based assays, structure determination, medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetic studies, toxicology tests and pharmacological evaluations under this collaboration. AstraZeneca will be responsible for preclinical and clinical development and commercialisation.
Joong Myung Cho, Ph.D., President & CEO of CrystalGenomics said: "We are very pleased that AstraZeneca, a world leader in the discovery of breakthrough medicines and proven expertise in pharmaceutical business, has chosen to collaborate with CrystalGenomics.
"We believe this collaboration is a validation of CrystalGenomics' ability to discover novel drugs on a global standard."
About CrystalGenomics
CrystalGenomics, Inc. is a publicly-held company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel drug candidates in the areas of cancer, inflammation and infectious diseases. CrystalGenomics' general business model is to develop drug candidates from discovery through preclinical or clinical proof of concept and form alliances with partners for further development and commercialization. The lead candidate, CG100649 is a next generation NSAID which has completed a phase IIa trial in Europe. CG400549 is a novel antibiotic candidate against MRSA and VRSA that has entered a phase I trial in Europe, and CG200745 is an oral/IV HDAC inhibitor for cancer which is IND-ready. The company has competitive and proprietary platform technologies for structural biology, structure-based novel scaffold/lead design, lead optimization and candidate selection. CrystalGenomics is headquartered in Seoul, Korea and its subsidiary, CG Pharmaceuticals Inc., is located in Emeryville, California for US and EU clinical management. For more information on CrystalGenomics, please visit: www.cgxinc.com
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According to the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)(2), despite the alarming increase of resistant strains, there have been only five US approvals for new antibacterial agents between 2003 and 2008, of which four agents were considered non-novel antibiotics. In terms of new antibacterial classes since the 1970s, the number is even lower as Oxazolidinones was the only new antibacterial class in more than three decades.
(1) Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors (World Bank Publications, 2006) Lopez AD, Mathers CD, Ezzati M, Jamison D, Murray CJL (2006) "The global and regional burden of disease and risk factors, 2001: systematic analysis of population health data" Lancet, 367(9524): 1747-1757
(2) Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) "Bad Bugs, No Drugs: No ESKAPE! An Update from the Infectious Diseases Society of America" (September 2008)
CONTACT: JongHee Kang of AstraZeneca Korea, +82-2-21880812,
jonghee.kang@astrazeneca.com, or Andrea Conners of AstraZeneca R&D,
+302-885-7652, andrea.conners@astrazenca.com; or Steven Kim of
CrystalGenomics, +82-2-3010-8611, skim@cgxinc.com
Web site: http://www.cgxinc.com/
http://www.astrazeneca.com/