COLLEGEVILLE, Pa., Nov. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth , announced today that two of its researchers have been recognized for their innovation in drug discovery science by the Research & Development Council of New Jersey at its Annual Thomas Alva Edison Patent Awards ceremony. The Wyeth researchers, Li Di, Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist II, and Edward H. Kerns, M.S., Associate Director, received the 2007 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award in the category of Enabling Technologies for the development of a laboratory test to help speed the development of new and effective treatments for central nervous system (CNS) diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and stroke.
The technique developed by Dr. Di and Mr. Kerns, Parallel Artificial Membrane Permeability Assay for Blood-Brain Barrier, is an effective assay that measures a drug candidate’s ability to pass through the blood-brain barrier.
The blood-brain barrier protects sensitive brain tissue by blocking many drugs from crossing through, thus complicating the development of drugs designed to treat CNS disorders. In discovering new CNS drug candidates, it is necessary to determine if the compound is able to pass the blood-brain barrier, and, for non-CNS diseases, it is important to assess whether the compound might pass through the blood-brain barrier and cause a side effect related to the central nervous system.
“At Wyeth, we have a strong focus in neuroscience research, and this important development is helping to rapidly select and improve drug candidates in disease areas that traditionally have had very low treatment success rates,” says Robert R. Ruffolo, Jr., Ph.D., President, Wyeth Research, and Senior Vice President, Wyeth.
The awards were presented at the R&D Council of New Jersey’s Annual Awards Dinner in Basking Ridge, NJ, on November 7, 2007.
About the R&D Council of New Jersey
The Research & Development Council of New Jersey is a non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating an environment that supports the advancement of research and development throughout New Jersey. The council is composed of senior representatives from industry, academia and government. In fact, many R&D Council members represent today’s Fortune 100 companies. More information can be found on the council’s Web site: www.rdnj.org.
About Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, has leading products in the areas of women’s health care, infectious disease, gastrointestinal health, central nervous system, inflammation, transplantation, hemophilia, oncology, vaccines and nutritional products.
Wyeth is one of the world’s largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies. It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products and non-prescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide. The Company’s major divisions include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Fort Dodge Animal Health.
The statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements based on current expectations of future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include the inherent uncertainty of the timing and success of, and expense associated with, research, development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our products and pipeline products; government cost-containment initiatives; restrictions on third-party payments for our products; substantial competition in our industry, including from branded and generic products; data generated on our products; the importance of strong performance from our principal products and our anticipated new product introductions; the highly regulated nature of our business; product liability, intellectual property and other litigation risks and environmental liabilities; uncertainty regarding our intellectual property rights and those of others; difficulties associated with, and regulatory compliance with respect to, manufacturing of our products; risks associated with our strategic relationships; economic conditions including interest and currency exchange rate fluctuations; changes in generally accepted accounting principles; trade buying patterns; the impact of legislation and regulatory compliance; risks and uncertainties associated with global operations and sales; and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K, particularly the discussion under the caption “Item 1A, RISK FACTORS.” The forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified by these risk factors. We assume no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
For more information, visit www.Wyeth.com.
CONTACT: Media, Michael Lampe, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, +1-484-865-1346, or
Investors, Justin Victoria, Wyeth, +1-973-660-5340
Web site: http://www.wyeth.com/
http://www.rdnj.org/
