Monday November 15, 1:02 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
OSI Pharmaceuticals and Sankyo Company Extend
Flu R&D Program
UNIONDALE, N.Y., Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: OSIP - news), announced today that
the Company's fully funded R&D program with Sankyo Company, Ltd., has been renewed for an additional two years. OSI
and Sankyo entered into the collaboration in February 1997 in partnership with UK-based MRC Collaborative Centre (MRC
CC) to discover and develop small molecule compounds to treat influenza. The companies announced that several active
compounds have been identified in the program, and that these compounds will now be the focus of research to develop drug
candidates for clinical testing.
As established under the 1997 agreement, the OSI/MRC CC partnership will receive research funding and milestone payments
from Sankyo, plus royalties on product sales. Sankyo will have exclusive, worldwide commercialization rights to all products
discovered in the collaboration.
''OSI's collaboration with Sankyo provides another validation of our broad- based R&D platform, bringing together
independent approaches that can target distinct molecular mechanisms involved in the disease process,'' commented Colin
Goddard, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ''OSI is continuing to build our business
as a Pharmaceutical Research Organization and this renewal further validates our ability to work effectively as the
Pharmaceutical industry's discovery partner.''
''There is a tremendous need for an anti-influenza compound that can effectively interfere with viral replication and treat broad
populations, especially those at highest risk, such as the elderly and very young,'' explained Tetuo Hiraoka, Ph.D., General
Manager, Research Institute of Sankyo Co., Ltd. ''Sankyo is committed to expanding its presence worldwide in the
anti-infectives market, including influenza, and we believe that this early platform collaborative program with OSI may hold
great promise for future development.''
The program represents a highly integrated effort encompassing OSI's proprietary natural product and medicinal chemistry
libraries, leads from which have been identified and optimized using the Company's platform of proprietary, broadly enabling
drug discovery technologies. These technologies encompass OSI's unique fungal collection acquired from MYCOsearch in
1996, strong assay biology, high throughput screening capabilities and the Company's medicinal and combinatorial chemistry
teams at our Aston Molecules subsidiary in the UK. Leads are being further evaluated for anti-viral activity in in vitro and in
vivo models at MRC CC.
Sankyo Co., Ltd. is the second largest pharmaceutical company in Japan. Headquartered in Tokyo and established in 1899,
Sankyo employs nearly 7,000 people. Sankyo also has marketing activities in the U.S. through Sankyo Park Davis, in Europe
through Sankyo Pharma Group and in Asia through its branch offices and joint ventures. As a research-based developer,
manufacturer and marketer, Sankyo has introduced several breakthrough drugs to the international market, including its own
ethical drug, Pravastatin (Mevalotin(TM) or Pravachol(TM)), and antihyperlipidemic, Troglitazone (Noscal(TM) in Japan,
Rezulin(TM) in the U.S.), the first in a new class of drugs known as PPAR-gamma activators which target insulin resistance,
Cefpodoxime proxetil (Banan(TM) or Vantin(TM)), an oral anti-infective, and Loxoprofen sodium (Loxonin(TM)), the largest
anti-inflammatory drug in Japan.
The MRC Collaborative Centre is a not-for-profit company affiliated with the UK Medical Research Council, whose mission is
to exploit the commercial potential of scientific discoveries and technologies arising from MRC funded research. The Virology
Division, headed by Stan Tyms PhD, has played an important part in the success of the Centre over the past 12 years through
key collaborations and joint ventures with major pharmaceutical and biotech companies in Europe, North America and Japan.
These alliances target the discovery of antiviral drugs against long term chronic viral infections, such as those caused by human
immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B and C, human herpes viruses, alongside this important program on influenza viruses. The
Division not only works with industrial partners to help bring their antiviral products to the clinic but also has a proven expertise
in the discovery of new chemical entities as a basis for developing novel antiviral drug candidates.
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 GPCR-directed drug discovery. 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, Tanabe, Novartis, Hoechst
Marion Roussel, Sankyo, Solvay, and Bayer.
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 part reimbursement, and other factors described in OSI Pharmaceuticals'
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE: OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
