PharmaDesign and Euroscreen Form Strategic Alliance for GPCR Deorphanization

PharmaDesign, Inc. and Euroscreen s.a. today announced a partnership to identify novel natural peptide ligands for orphan human G protein coupled receptors. PharmaDesign’s proprietary peptide library offers novel opportunities for identification of novel natural ligands while Euroscreen’s expertise in GPCR target discovery, functional screening of orphan receptors and pharmacological characterization will provide rapid screening of PharmaDesign’s Library and subsequent target validation. The partnership will provide novel Targets for partnering with shared income for the companies.

PharmaDesign, Tokyo, Japan; and Euroscreen, Brussels, Belgium (PRWEB) January 5, 2006 -- PharmaDesign, Inc. and Euroscreen s.a. today announced a partnership to identify novel natural peptide ligands for orphan human G protein coupled receptors. PharmaDesign’s proprietary peptide library offers novel opportunities for identification of novel natural ligands while Euroscreen’s expertise in GPCR target discovery, functional screening of orphan receptors and pharmacological characterization will provide rapid screening of PharmaDesign’s Library and subsequent target validation. The partnership will provide novel Targets for partnering with shared income for the companies.

"We really wish this collaborative research will be so productive that it shows a novel way in drug discovery." said Dr. Toshio Furuya, President &CEO of PharmaDesign Inc.

“This should provide our companies with a rapid opportunity to identify novel targets for original drug discovery programs,” said Dr. François Roman, the Head of Drug Development R&D at Euroscreen.

For further information, please contact:

Euroscreen s.a.   Tel: +32 71 348 500      
Pierre Nokin, Ph.D.
President and CEO

PharmaDesign, Inc.   Tel: +81 3 3523 9630
Sam Noda
General Manager, Business Development Division
         
About PharmaDesign Inc.

PharmaDesign was established in 1999 as a genome-based drug discovery company specialized in structure bioinformatics and drug design. The Company conduct consulting research business in genome-based drug discovery as well as its own research to search novel drug targets by predicting proteins’ functions based on 3-D structures, and find lead compounds.

The Company has also developed PharmaGPEP, a library of peptides designed as intrinsic ligand candidates from human genome sequence using bioinformatics.

About Euroscreen s.a.

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 Euroscreen’s 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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