ZETIQ DETECTS DRUG LEADS AGAINST MAJOR CANCER-CAUSING GENE

ZETIQ TECHNOLOGIES INC of Malvern PA today announced that it has detected a number of leads active in prevention of malignant signaling induced by a major cancer-causing gene, Ras.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) August 8, 2002 -- Zetiq Technologies Inc. of Malvern, PA today announced that it has detected a number of leads active in prevention of malignant signaling induced by a major cancer- causing gene, Ras. These leads were generated in a 55,000 compound screen on Zetiqs new cell-based screening system for full-length signal pathway screening.

Zetiq has developed this system in order to allow drug discovery against full-length signal pathways, rather than against single proteins. The system is a module operating on Zetiqs CamaRx platform, a cell based system that tests cells for a phenotype labeled Cancer Associated Metabolic Atypia (CAMA); a collection of basic metabolic traits characteristic of most malignant cells. CamaRx leads are characterized by their non-cytotoxic nature; they change the cancer cells nature, forcing them to be normal, rather than killing them and are thus more tolerable by patients.

These new leads will join the six novel anti-cancer chemical families we have already detected in previous screens on the CamaRx platform," says Zetiq CEO and President Dan J. Gelvan. The further we take this system the more evidence we collect supporting CamaRxs ability to revolutionize the drug discovery process." Continues Gelvan. Because this is a phenotypic system, any company with a new oncogene can utilize this system to commence drug discovery long before the signal pathway of a new oncogene has been elucidated." Says Martina Molsbergen, Zetiqs VP of Business Development.

Screening against full-length signal pathways is an exciting concept which opens a plethora of opportunities. Oncogenic Ras was chosen because of its focal role in many carcinomas, but we could have worked on any new oncogene arising from genomics and proteomics research." Says Zetiqs VP R&D Alexander Chausovsky. It is becoming evident, in the era of pathway-biology, that we need drug screening to address entire signal pathways, not function of single isolated proteins targets along signaling pathways". Continues Chausovsky.

Screening in excess of 30,000 molecules as week we are actually capable of setting up a full screening system and yield results against a new putative oncogene in less than two months." Says Dr. Noga Yerushalmi, head of Zetiqs high throughput operation."

Zetiq operates out of Malvern, PA and Rehovot, Israel. Zetiq is a drug discovery and development company, focusing on innovative cell-based drug discovery systems.