Cambridge, United Kingdom and Heidelberg, Germany, 14th September 2011 - Cellzome announces that it has successfully reached the clinical candidate milestone for a program as well as a lead declaration milestone for a further target (under a separate program) as part of the kinase alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The achievement of these milestones triggers undisclosed payments from GSK.
The clinical candidate and lead were derived from Cellzome’s chemistry using Kinobeads™, a proprietary chemoproteomic screening and profiling approach utilizing native proteins under close-to-physiological conditions. The clinical candidate is highly selective for its kinase target and has limited and precise effects on immune cell functions as well as a good in vivo safety profile.
In September 2008, Cellzome and GSK announced a worldwide strategic alliance which uses Cellzome’s drug discovery and development capabilities and its proprietary Kinobeads™ technology to identify, develop and market novel kinase-targeted therapeutics to treat inflammatory diseases. GSK has exclusive options to license drug candidates from Cellzome’s kinase programs directed against seven targets. Cellzome will develop these programs to clinical proof of concept, unless GSK elects to exercise its option earlier. Cellzome is eligible to receive success-based milestones from GSK as product candidates are advanced. The first milestone in the alliance was announced in December 2008. Tim Edwards, CEO of Cellzome, said: “The achievement of these milestones underlines the solid progress we are making in our kinase collaboration with GSK. They demonstrate how productively the KinobeadsTM platform is integrated into our overall drug discovery effort, which is now producing innovative compounds with the drug-like properties necessary for clinical candidates.”
For more information please contact:
Cellzome:
Tim Edwards
Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +49 (0) 6221 137 57 100
press@cellzome.com
Media contact:
Nicole Yost, Jayne Crook
College Hill
Tel: +44 (0)20 7866 7862
cellzome@collegehill.com
About Cellzome
Cellzome is a world leader in chemoproteomics, transforming the sciences of epigenetics and signal transduction into novel drug candidates in inflammatory diseases and oncology. The Company maintains the highest levels of scientific expertise and has active collaborations with the foremost academic laboratories around the world. Cellzome’s technologies work with native proteins in a physiological setting to discover small molecule drugs targeting protein complexes that underlie diseases. The Company has a track record in delivering significant collaborations with top pharmaceutical companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis. Cellzome is a privately-held, international, company located in Heidelberg, Germany and Cambridge, UK employing about 100 people. For more information please visit: www.cellzome.com
About KinobeadsTM
Cellzome’s technology, Kinobeads™, quantitatively measures the interaction of compounds or drugs with kinases in cells and tissues. Kinobeads™ is so effective that compounds can be uniquely ‘finger-printed’ for their interactions with natural kinases and related target proteins. The resulting information can not only demonstrate a compounds’ mode of action and indicate which diseases it might be used against, but also point to potential side effects.
