Euroscreen Awarded US Patent Covering Mutant Polypeptides of SHIP2, an Emerging Target for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Euroscreen SA, today announced the issuance of a US patent which protects specific mutants affected in the catalytic site of the human SHIP2 protein. These are mutant proteins of SH2 domain containing inositolphosphate5-Phosphatase type2 (SHIP2).

Brussels, Belgium (PRWEB) August 31, 2005 -- Euroscreen SA, today announced the issuance of a US patent which protects specific mutants affected in the catalytic site of the human SHIP2 protein.

The human SHIP2 was cloned and characterized by Dr. Christophe Erneux and Dr. Stéphane Schurmans at the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research (IRIBHM) of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. These researchers have shown that loss of SHIP2 gene in mice leads to increased insulin sensitivity, suggesting that pharmacological inhibition of SHIP2 could alleviate insulin resistance.

The US patent 6,936,452 relates in particular to mutated SHIP2 proteins that would prevent the natural activity of SHIP2 by competition of these mutated proteins to interacting proteins or receptors involved in insulin signaling cascade. Those mutated forms of SHIP2 typically would create dominant negative effects.

The issuance of equivalent patent applications in Europe, Japan and Canada will occur in the near future.

Commenting on the announcement, Pierre Nokin, President and CEO of Euroscreen, said: "This new US patent represents a significant addition to our growing portfolio of validated disease-related targets. It will enable Euroscreen to generate revenues from companies wishing to use the human SHIP2 enzyme in their search for innovative drugs, in the form of license fees and milestones in the short term, and royalties on sales of any products generated in the longer term."

Professor Marc Parmentier, CSO and founder of Euroscreen, commented: We are very pleased to have been awarded a second US patent in the field of human SHIP2 protein. In 1999, Dr. Erneux and Dr. Schurmans discovered that SHIP2 was a potent negative regulator of insulin signalling and insulin sensitivity in vivo. Subsequent research demonstated that SHIP2 could be a crucial target to alleviate Type 2 diabetes mellitus. This type of diabetes will continue to be an important focus of the scientific and medical community in the next decade."

For further information, please contact:
Euroscreen s.a.   Tel: +32 71 348 500      
email: LicensingBD@euroscreen.com

Pierre Nokin, Ph.D.
President and CEO

Vincent Lannoy, Ph.D.
Business Development and Licensing Manager

About Euroscreen SA
Euroscreen is a world leader in G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). The Company integrates its research expertise in this area with its patented high-throughput AequoScreen cellular assay platform to patent new GPCR targets and drug candidates.

The Company is building its own patent portfolio of GPCR targets and novel drug leads for licensing to biopharmaceutical companies, and to date has agreements with Amersham/GE Healthcare, Cephalon, ChemDiv, Evotec, ICOS, Merck & Co, Pfizer Inc, Solvay, Syngenta and UCB. Euroscreen has also established collaborations with numerous academic centers for access to licenses to help in making available its broad menu of GPCR-based products (recombinant cell lines and membrane preparations) and services (custom screening and cloning).

Euroscreen has grown significant and strong patent positions to protect many key drug targets for licensing. Such patents include CCR5, ChemR23, GPR43, GPR7/8, purinergic receptors (P2Y4, P2Y11 and P2Y13) and SHIP2 for type II diabetes. Euroscreen is able to offer intellectual property rights to companies for the development of therapeutic drugs that act through the above-mentioned targets. For more information regarding the Euroscreens portfolio, please contact Dr. Vincent Lannoy.

Euroscreen is a privately held company based in Brussels, Belgium with 80 employees of which 50 are in R&D.

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