Euroscreen Licenses CCR5 Patent Rights to AstraZeneca

Euroscreen S.A. has completed a license agreement with AstraZeneca UK Ltd, for access to its worldwide portfolio of CCR5 patent rights. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Brussels, Belgium (PRWEB) March 3, 2008 -- Euroscreen S.A. has completed a license agreement with AstraZeneca UK Ltd, for access to its worldwide portfolio of CCR5 patent rights. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Euroscreen is the exclusive licensor of rights originally generated by ICOS, Human Genome Sciences, and Euroscreen for this combined portfolio of CCR5 patents for non-antibody therapeutic development.

Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Jean Combalbert, CEO of Euroscreen, said, "In adding a big player like AstraZeneca to our sub-licensees, we are now obtaining recognition that the application of our CCR5 patent rights is not limited to HIV but is also useful in important new indications to unmet therapeutic needs such as rheumatoid arthritis.

CCR5 is becoming an important target for not just the ongoing anti-HIV drug applications. AstraZeneca is in phase II with its antagonist for a non-HIV application and another sub-licensee - Pfizer - is in announced phase II studies for the same indication with Selzentry™ already registered for anti-HIV application".

For further licensing Information, please contact:
Euroscreen S.A.
Tel: +32 71 348 500

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

Jean Combalbert, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer

About Euroscreen S.A.
Euroscreen, a privately held company based in Brussels, Belgium, is a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery, development and partnering of small molecule drugs for unmet medical needs. Euroscreen is developing a pipeline of compounds targeting G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) using over 13 years of experience in research and commercialization of this critical class of drug targets. Initially, Euroscreen was a spin-off company of the "Université Libre de Bruxelles" based on GPCR reagent development and commercialization. Euroscreen is now developing drugs on internal targets such as CCR5 as well as several preclinical-stage collaborations with partners.

The Company has developed a broad target portfolio for licensing to biopharmaceutical companies. Such patents address GPCRs such as CCR5, Chemerin receptor, GPR43, GPR7/8, ORL1-R, FPRL2, purinergic receptors (P2Y4, P2Y11 and P2Y13) and SHIP2, a non-GPCR target for type II diabetes. Euroscreen is able to offer intellectual property rights to companies for the development of therapeutic drugs that act through these targets.

Euroscreen pursues a dual platform strategy of combining its internal drug discovery programs with its fully dedicated Custom Screening Business Unit (EuroSCREEN FAST), providing GPCR customized screening and other services for biotech and pharmaceutical companies around the world. The company has research and licensing partnerships with Alchemia, AstraZeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Cephalon, GNF, Grunenthal, HGS, ICOS, Medarex, Novartis and Pfizer.

###