SOURCE: OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
OSI Pharmaceuticals Licenses American Cyanamid's Yeast GPCR Technology In Patent Cross-Licensing Agreement
UNIONDALE, N.Y., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: OSIP - news) announced today that it has signed a worldwide, non-exclusive, cross-licensing agreement with American Home Products (NYSE: AHP - news) involving OSI's gene transcription patent estate and a family of patents covering yeast screening technologies developed by American Cyanamid, a subsidiary of AHP. Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
The agreement allows OSI to access the Cyanamid technology covered in four issued U.S. patents which include claims for recombinant expression of a variety of targets in yeast, including G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), hybrid GPCRs and orphan receptors for use in human therapeutics. GPCRs are an important class of targets in drug discovery.
Approximately 50 percent of currently marketed therapeutic products target various GPCRs. Examples include beta blockers for high blood pressure, beta agonists used to treat asthma and antihistamines for cold and allergy treatment. Licensing Cyanamid's patents adds significantly to OSI's intellectual property in drug discovery technology and follows on from the recent acquisition of GPCR discovery assets from Cadus Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
''This cross-license agreement provides value to OSI on two fronts,'' stated Colin Goddard, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ''Firstly, licensing Cyanamid's technology considerably enhances OSI's drug discovery capabilities in the GPCR area and builds on the value of the assets recently acquired from Cadus. Secondly, AHP's licensing of OSI's gene transcription technology provides further validation that this is a fundamental technology in widespread use within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.''
The cross-license agreement with OSI allows American Cyanamid to retain exclusive rights to use their GPCR technologies in the agricultural field.
''The combination of these two patent estates allows American Cyanamid to explore the largely untapped potential of GPCRs for agricultural applications. We have strengthened our position to discover unique genes, define gene function, and develop new screens for agricultural use,'' said Dennis Ciarlante, Ph.D., Vice-President, Global Crop Protection and Ag Biotechnology Research for American Cyanamid.
The patents licensed to AHP, including U.S. Patent No. 5,776,502, cover the use of low molecular weight compounds for agricultural, cosmeceutical, pharmaceutical, or veterinary purposes to modulate gene transcription in vivo. The patent estate also covers certain assay methods.
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