Auvation and ExpressOn BioSystems join forces to advance cancer target programme

Scottish biotechnology companies Auvation and ExpressOn BioSystems have forged an alliance to validate a range of potential new molecular targets within tumour cells and select the most promising as the focus of new anti-cancer drug development programmes. Auvation will provide up to 20 target genes from its cancer marker portfolio, and ExpressOn will use its ACCESSarray technology to determine regions on the corresponding RNA molecules that are optimally accessible to silencing reagents. ExpressOn will then use this information to design silencing reagents that Auvation can use to determine how cancer cells cope when deprived of these tumour targets.Auvation will fund the work and make milestone payments on silencing reagents that are subsequently selected for clinical drug development.

Aberdeen, UK; Roslin, UK (PRWEB) August 15, 2004 -- Two privately-held Scottish biotechnology companies have forged a collaborative, risk-sharing alliance aimed at validating a range of potential new molecular targets within tumour cells, and selecting the most promising as the focus of new anti-cancer drug development programmes.

Auvation, based at the Aberdeen Science & Technology Park in north-east Scotland, is a leader in the discovery of tumour markers", protein components of tumour cells that are less abundant or even absent in normal tissues. The Company is developing next-generation anti-cancer medicines and diagnostic tests that target its portfolio of proprietary tumour marker proteins.

By applying proteomics technology to the analysis of samples drawn from ACCRI-BANK, a large collection of tumours removed from colorectal cancer patients, Auvation has succeeded in identifying more than 20 candidate tumour markers. The company says its next challenge is to determine which of these tumour markers make the best points-of-attack for new drugs, and the collaboration with ExpressOn will provide a rapid solution to this problem.

Bill Melvin, CEO of Auvation said: todays cancer drugs fail to meet the needs of many patients, not least because toxic side-effects often limit their use. Better drugs require new targets that are found predominantly within tumour cells, so that therapy is focused on the tumour and side-effects are reduced. Auvations tumour marker discovery work is proving highly productive, and our collaboration with ExpressOn will allow us to determine rapidly which markers are the most promising targets for new drug development programmes."

ExpressOn Biosystems, based at the Roslin BioCentre near Edinburgh in central Scotland, is a leading provider of products and services for the high-throughput empirical design of potent antisense and siRNA reagents for use in gene knockdown, target validation and lead generation research.

Peter Estibeiro, CEO of ExpressOn, said: we are delighted to work with Auvation on the evaluation of their cancer target portfolio, and believe this alliance is an important validation of our ACCESSarray 4000 technology. Auvation will provide up to 20 target genes from their cancer marker portfolio, and ExpressOn will use ACCESSarray to determine regions on the corresponding RNA molecules that are optimally accessible to silencing reagents. ExpressOn will then use this information to design silencing reagents that Auvation can use to determine how cancer cells cope when deprived of these tumour targets".

Silencing reagents, which may be antisense, siRNA or ribozyme molecules, can shut off the production of a target protein in order to determine the role that the protein plays in the cell. Silencing reagents that block cell processes contributing to the development and progression of cancer may also be developed into therapeutic leads.

Under the terms of the deal, which were not disclosed, Auvation will make upfront payments in return for access to ExpressOns ACCESSarray technology. ExpressOn will also earn milestone payments on silencing reagents that are subsequently selected for clinical drug development.

Further information from: Dr Colin Telfer, Business Development Manager, Auvation Ltd; Tel: +44 1224 355 205

Issued by: Auvation Limited, Crombie Lodge, Aberdeen Science and Technology Park, Balgownie Drive, Aberdeen AB22 8GU, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1224 355 205            Fax: +44 (0)1224 708 163

Ref: AUVPR401

About Auvation
Auvation Limited is a research-driven biotechnology company developing innovative technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Auvation is combining unique tissue bank resources with world-leading scientific expertise in the field of tumour molecular pathology to create a product development engine specialising in cancer target identification and targeted therapy. The Companys growing target portfolio is typified by its flagship CYP1B1 technology, a unique approach designed to adapt new or existing cancer drugs into tumour-specific targeted therapies with reduced side-effect profiles. Auvation is applying its technologies to create a range of next-generation chemotherapeutics, and will also out-license technology to enhance the cancer drug pipelines of selected pharmaceutical industry partners.

For more information about Auvation visit www.auvation.com.

About ExpressOn BioSystems
ExpressOn BioSystems Ltd is based at the Roslin BioCentre in Scotland. ExpressOns core business focus is the development of antisense, RNA interference (RNAi) and ribozyme design and delivery technologies as research tools and drugs. ExpressOns ACCESSarray® and ACCESSmapper nucleic acid mapping tools are currently being used by Academic, Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical customers worldwide.

For more information about ExpressOn visit www.expresson.co.uk.

About the ACCESSarray® 4000 technology
ExpressOn Biosystems proprietary ACCESSarray® 4000 technology, the result of years of research effort by the Company, is a fully-degenerate microarray that facilitates the rapid mapping of accessible sequences on any nucleic acid molecule, under physiological conditions. This information is a fundamental property of the nucleic acid target and can be used in a variety of applications including target validation and drug discovery. In the collaboration with Auvation, ExpressOn will target RNA, the messenger molecule that carries the instructions encoded in a gene to the protein manufacturing machinery of the cell. By identifying accessible regions on RNAs encoding Auvations target markers, and then synthesising silencing reagents that bind to these regions, the collaborators can block manufacture of the markers within living cells and thereby study their role in the biology of cancer.

About cancer
Every year, cancer claims the lives of 6.2 million people worldwide. In the developed world one in three people will be struck with cancer in their lifetime, and it is the second most common cause of death by disease, with 4.7 million new cases and 2.6 million deaths per annum. It is estimated that in the US, which is the worlds largest market for cancer medicines, there were more than 1,220,000 people diagnosed with cancer in the year 2002. Of these, 59% were in persons over the age of 65 and only 15% were younger than 50. Due to the increasing average age of western populations, the incidence rate of new cancer diagnoses will increase over the coming years, increasing the demand for effective treatments. The deficiencies of currently available cancer drugs are reflected in the high mortality rate amongst cancer patients. The standard measure of treatment efficacy, the percentage of patients with a particular cancer who are still alive five years after diagnosis, stood at 50% in 1975-6, and by the period between 1989 and 1995 had only increased to 59%. Within this overall figure lies marked variations between different cancer indications. Treatment for testicular cancer, for example, is comparatively successful and the disease has a 95% five-year survival rate, whereas other cancers such as liver and pancreatic tumours usually fail to respond to available treatments and have a five-year survival rate of 4% - 5%.