Wednesday April 25, 2:32 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer
Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Announce Extension of
Drug Discovery Collaboration
EXTON, Pa., and RIDGEFIELD, Conn., April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: DDDP -
news) and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI) today announced that their drug discovery collaboration, which
began in December of 1999, has been extended to March 31, 2003. In the collaboration, 3DP is applying its proprietary
DirectedDiversity® combinatorial chemistry technology to discover and refine innovative new compounds active against asthma
and allergic disease. 3DP will continue to apply its iterative drug discovery process to generate custom combinatorial chemical
libraries based on molecules and information provided by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals with the objective to optimize
those molecules into drug candidates. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals will be responsible for preclinical and clinical
development.
Under the extension, 3DP will receive an additional up-front payment, research and development funding, and it continues to be
eligible for milestone payments and royalties on each compound selected for development by Boehringer Ingelheim
Pharmaceuticals. Financial details were not disclosed.
``We see this extension of our collaboration with 3DP as building upon our initial scientific success,'' said Peter Mueller, Sr.
Vice President R&D Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Ridgefield CT. ``The opportunity to work with a partner
that complements our own lead identification process has been very fruitful and exciting.''
``Our initial collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals demonstrated 3DP's ability to rapidly and efficiently
identify potent and selective sustainable lead compounds active at new biological targets,'' said David C. U'Prichard, Chief
Executive Officer of 3DP. ``3DP is pleased that Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals has chosen to extend and expand our
existing relationship.''
DirectedDiversity® is a patented, computer-aided, iterative process for generating libraries of small molecule compounds with
a prescribed set of physical, chemical and/or biological properties. A key feature of the technology is that DirectedDiversity®
Accessible Compound Libraries, representing many novel and diverse chemistry scaffolds, are initially generated in the
computer and indexed using a comprehensive set of approximately 500 molecular descriptors. This enables rapid retrieval of
compounds with user-selectable ranges of structural and chemical properties, which can be used as focused screening libraries.
3DP to date has developed Accessible Compound Libraries totaling over 2.5 billion compounds, which can be rapidly
synthesized using automated chemistry techniques. To accelerate its drug discovery process, 3DP has synthesized
DirectedDiversity® Probe Libraries that include diverse selections of over 200,000 compounds from the Accessible
Compound Libraries which are used for initial screening in 3DP's proprietary `any target' high throughput screening technology
known as ThermoFluor®. DirectedDiversity® is a major component of 3DP's lead generation and optimization platform
known as DiscoverWorks(TM).
The Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies, with headquarters in Ingelheim (Germany) is one of the 20 leading
pharmaceutical firms in the world with reported revenues exceeding U.S. $4.78 billion in 1999. Boehringer Ingelheim has
worldwide some 140 affiliated companies. The companies' focus is on the human pharmaceutical as well as on the animal health
businesses. The human pharmaceutical business, which is responsible for 92% of sales, includes mainly ethical pharmaceuticals
and self-medication but also products for industrial customers (chemicals and biopharmaceuticals). Substantial research and
development, production, and distribution facilities are located around the globe. In 1999 Boehringer Ingelheim spent U.S.
$766 million on R&D and thus making a commitment to R&D spending of 16% of total sales.
3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (http://www.3dp.com) is a post- genomics drug discovery company dedicated to
revolutionizing small-molecule discovery. 3DP has developed and integrated a set of proprietary technologies called
DiscoverWorks(TM), which accelerates and improves the drug discovery process and capitalizes on opportunities arising from
human genome sequencing. 3DP technologies can be applied to virtually any disease target, and can produce compounds
suitable for drug development in a more timely and cost- effective manner and with a higher probability of success than
conventional methods. 3DP is using its technologies both to assist collaborators in discovering drug candidates, and to discover
and develop its own drug candidates.
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are ``forward-looking'' statements which involve a high degree of
risk and uncertainty. Such statements are only predictions, and the actual events or results may differ materially from those
projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include, but are not limited
to, risks associated with clinical trials and product development, the long and arduous process of obtaining regulatory
approvals, protection and enforcement of relevant patents and proprietary rights, and development and availability of
competitive products or technologies. Certain of these factors and others are more fully described in the Company's Annual
Report on Form 10-K, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE: 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
