More stuff... OSIP picking up cheap assets??? Where are the big boys?
Company Press Release
SOURCE: OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
OSI Pharmaceuticals Announces Acquisition of Certain
Assets of Cadus Pharmaceuticals
UNIONDALE, N.Y., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: OSIP -
news) announced today that it has purchased certain assets of Cadus Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Nasdaq: KDUS - news) for
approximately $1.5 million in cash. Cadus will share in milestones and royalties on the first product derived from the acquired
assets. OSI will also assume operation of Cadus' fully equipped research facility in Tarrytown, New York, and retain over 45
researchers who will be employed in ongoing and expanding programs at both the Tarrytown site and at OSI's headquarters in
Uniondale, New York.
OSI has acquired Cadus' drug discovery programs focused on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). These receptors are one of
the most important families of targets in pharmaceutical discovery. The acquired programs include Cadus' Adenosine Receptor
program, which is focused on the development of receptor sub-type specific antagonists for the treatment of asthma. This program
already has a number of promising compounds in pre-clinical development. OSI has also acquired Cadus' directed library of
150,000 small- molecule compounds specifically designed for drug discovery in the GPCR area, together with the Cadus/Solvay
Pharmaceuticals B.V. alliance, which is directed toward GPCR drug discovery in the cardiovascular field.
OSI has not acquired any aspects relating to Cadus' on-going litigation with SIBIA Neurosciences, Inc., including the company's
technology for G-protein based assays in yeast.
''This transaction significantly enhances OSI's ability to conduct drug discovery, adding key assets and broadening our pipeline of
proprietary drug candidates,'' stated Colin Goddard, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
''In addition to acquiring an outstanding technology platform, we are also adding a very talented group of scientists and
professionals to the OSI team.''
OSI continues to focus on establishing a strong, integrated capability in drug discovery and on positioning itself as a leading
pharmaceutical discovery company producing a flow of pharmaceutical product candidates for commercialization in partnership
with the pharmaceutical industry. The addition of a strong GPCR discovery capability to OSI's existing strengths in signal
transduction and gene transcription is a significant enhancement of the Company's overall discovery efforts. With this transaction
OSI has expanded its highly productive research and development organization, which will now number over 200 employees
worldwide. The Company anticipates growing collaborative revenues that will enable it to manage this growth while maintaining its
current, controlled cash burn rate. OSI has also added Solvay to a list of strong pharmaceutical partners including Pfizer, Hoechst
Marion Roussel, Novartis and Sankyo. The Company is actively seeking an additional alliance in the diabetes area.
As part of this transaction, OSI also announced changes to its management team. Dr. David Webb, formerly Vice President and
Chief Scientific Officer of Cadus, will join OSI as a Vice President with responsibilities for several of OSI's drug discovery and
collaborative programs. Dr. Arlindo Castelhano, formerly Executive Director of Chemistry at Cadus, will join OSI as a Senior
Director with responsibility for the Adenosine Receptor program. Dr. Maurizio Denaro, Executive Vice President for Development
at OSI, will be leaving the Company to assume a position in Europe.
OSI Pharmaceuticals is a leading drug discovery company with a substantial pipeline of product opportunities for
commercialization with the pharmaceutical industry. OSI's research programs are focused in the areas of cancer therapeutics,
cosmeceuticals, diabetes and anti-infectives. OSI utilizes a comprehensive drug discovery and development capability to facilitate
the rapid and cost-effective discovery and development of novel, small molecule compounds in more than 40 research and
development programs. OSI is involved in long-term research alliances with Pfizer, Novartis, Hoechst Marion Roussel, Sankyo,
and Bayer.
Additional information on OSI Pharmaceuticals is available on the World Wide Web at: osip.com
This news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and
uncertainties that may cause actual future experience and results to differ materially from the statements made. Factors that might
cause such a difference include, among others, uncertainties related to the identification of lead compounds, the successful
pre-clinical development thereof, the completion of clinical trials, the FDA review process and other governmental regulation,
pharmaceutical collaborators' ability to successfully develop and commercialize drug candidates, competition from other
pharmaceutical companies, product pricing and third party reimbursement, and other factors described in OSI Pharmaceuticals'
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE: OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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