BRANFORD, Conn., July 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CuraGen Corporation announced today it has been informed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation that Bayer plans to license BAY 76-7171 (formerly CT052). BAY 76-7171 was discovered under an ongoing metabolic disorder collaboration between CuraGen and Bayer aimed at identifying and developing potential small molecule therapeutics for the management of diabetes. An Investigational New Drug (IND) application for BAY 76-7171 was filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2005. In December of 2005, CuraGen announced it had exercised its right to revert to a tiered royalty structure under which CuraGen would receive royalties on any BAY 76-7171 product sales and CuraGen would no longer contribute to the ongoing development costs for BAY 76-7171.
"Because of the changes we made to this product collaboration in December of last year, today's announcement has no direct impact on CuraGen with respect to near term value generation from our pipeline or on our resource allocation. We anticipate that the licensing effort by Bayer for this program will be positive and help support future development of BAY 76-7171, a small molecule compound being developed for potential use in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes," stated Dr. Frank M. Armstrong, President and Chief Executive Officer of CuraGen Corporation. "At CuraGen, we continue to focus our resources and development expertise on our advanced oncology therapeutics, including velafermin, PXD101 and CR011, and look forward to generating significant clinical results on these programs over the next 12 to 18 months."
About CuraGen
CuraGen Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company developing diverse approaches, including novel protein, antibody, and small molecule therapeutics, that aim to offer hope for patients with cancer, inflammatory diseases, and diabetes. CuraGen's strategic alliances have resulted in a deep pipeline of potential therapeutics that is being developed by the Company's experienced research and development teams. By leveraging the drug development strengths cultivated over the years, CuraGen expects to make a difference in the lives of patients by bringing forward promising therapeutics that address unmet medical needs. To further capitalize on CuraGen's extensive research and development expertise, CuraGen founded a majority-owned subsidiary, 454 Life Sciences, which has developed and is commercializing advanced technologies for the sequencing of DNA. CuraGen and 454 Life Sciences are headquartered in Branford, Connecticut. For additional information on the companies please visit http://www.curagen.com and http://www.454lifesciences.com.
Safe Harbor
This press release may contain forward-looking statement, including the statement that CuraGen will receive tiered royalties on any future sales of BAY 76-7171 and that CuraGen will generating significant clinical results on PXD101 and CR011 over the next 12 to 18 months. We caution investors that there can be no assurance that actual results or business conditions will not differ materially from those projected or suggested in such forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the following: the risk that any one or more of CuraGen's drug development programs will not proceed as planned for technical, scientific or commercial reasons or due to patient enrollment issues or based on new information from nonclinical or clinical studies or from other sources; the success of competing products and technologies; technological uncertainty and product development risks; uncertainty of additional funding; CuraGen's history of incurring losses and the uncertainty of achieving profitability; CuraGen's stage of development as a biopharmaceutical company; government regulation; patent infringement claims against CuraGen's products, processes and technologies; the ability to protect CuraGen's patents and proprietary rights; uncertainties relating to commercialization rights; and product liability exposure. Please refer to CuraGen's Annual and Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q for a complete description of these risks. CuraGen disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, unless required by law.
CuraGen Contact: Glenn Schulman, Pharm.D. Assistant Director of Investor Relations gschulman@curagen.com (888) 436-6642
CuraGen CorporationCONTACT: Glenn Schulman, Pharm.D., Assistant Director of InvestorRelations of CuraGen, +1-888-436-6642, gschulman@curagen.com
