Monday January 10, 5:38 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: PathoGenesis Corporation
Pathogenesis to Collaborate With Chiron on Drug Discovery and Development
SEATTLE, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- PathoGenesis Corp. (Nasdaq: PGNS - news) today announced a collaboration between PathoGenesis and Chiron Corp. (Nasdaq: CHIR - news) to develop new antibiotics with new mechanisms of action to better address serious medical needs, such as concerns about drug resistance.
The collaboration seeks to combine Chiron's strong combinatorial chemistry library and expertise in high-throughput screening with PathoGenesis' strengths in bacterial target discovery and antibiotic development, as well as its knowledge of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa genome (genetic structure). Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
''As a result of this collaboration, PathoGenesis and Chiron scientists have an enormous opportunity to discover new antibiotics to treat serious infections,'' said William Baker, Ph.D., senior vice president of research and preclinical development at PathoGenesis. ''We're particularly interested in identifying and developing novel broad-spectrum antibiotics, including drugs for oral, IV and aerosol delivery.'' PathoGenesis has been a pioneer in the aerosol delivery of antibiotics with its drug TOBI® (tobramycin solution for inhalation).
''This collaboration, focused on the discovery of novel treatments for infectious diseases, reflects an emerging aspect of our research strategy,'' said Lewis T. (''Rusty'') Williams, M.D., Ph.D., chief scientific officer at Chiron. ''We look forward to working with PathoGenesis to address the increasingly critical problem of antibiotic resistance.''
PathoGenesis' research in this area is being funded in part by a $1.4 million grant from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Therapeutics Development Grants Program. The grant is supporting work on identifying novel classes of antibiotics and potential drug candidates to treat serious lung infections, particularly those caused by P. aeruginosa. Chronic P. aeruginosa infections are prevalent in people with cystic fibrosis, and are the principal cause of their progressive lung damage and dramatically shortened average lifespans. Chronic infections also affect bronchiectasis, ventilator and transplant patients.
Seattle-based PathoGenesis Corp. develops and commercializes drugs to treat chronic infectious diseases -- particularly serious lung infections, including those common in cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis and ventilator patients. PathoGenesis' stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol PGNS. The company's Web site is located at www.pathogenesis.com .
Note: This news release contains ''forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors that may cause the company's actual results to be materially different from historical results or any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, uncertainties related to the fact that PathoGenesis only began commercial operations in 1998, its dependence on TOBI, the degree of penetration of its markets and frequency of TOBI's use by patients, third party reimbursement and product pricing, seasonal impacts on hospitalizations or exacerbations experienced by patients, variability in wholesaler ordering patterns, drug development and clinical trials, uncertain outcome of the domestic and international drug approval process, competition and alternative therapies, and other factors described in PathoGenesis' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's Form 10-K for 1998 and Exhibit 99.1 to that Form 10-K.
SOURCE: PathoGenesis Corporation |
