Aurora Biosciences Announces Genomics Technology Access AgreementWith Rigel, Inc.
--From AOL News.-- Cooters
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Aurora Biosciences Corporation (Nasdaq: ABSC) today announced that it has signed a technology access agreement with Rigel, Inc. that provides each company the ability to access key genomics tools for target identification and validation. Aurora will provide a non-exclusive license for Aurora's proprietary green fluorescent protein ("GFP") technology and Rigel will provide Aurora access to Rigel's retroviral and peptide selection technologies.
Under the terms of this licensing agreement, Rigel will be granted certain rights to use Aurora's GFP technology, one of Aurora's genomic analysis tools, in certain areas related to gene analysis. Aurora will receive an upfront payment, annual fees, and equity in Rigel. Rigel will permit Aurora to access Rigel's proprietary combinatorial screening technology that can be utilized for target identification and validation. Both companies can perform services for third parties in exchange for royalties on such services and downstream revenues on certain products discovered.
"The Aurora-Rigel genomics technology agreement allows synergy between Aurora's GFP genomics technologies and Rigel's target analysis technologies," said John D. Mendlein, Aurora's senior vice president, intellectual property and chief knowledge officer. "We welcome Rigel into our GFP licensing program, which now has over 10 commercial participants, and look forward to their successes. As the industry matures, it is important for companies to respect IP positions and develop creative solutions to permit technology combinations in fundamental growth areas, such as genomics."
Rigel, Inc., a privately held company founded in 1996, is focused on the discovery of novel therapeutic agents. The Company's rapid drug target identification and validation technology represents a new, advanced approach to functional genomics, integrating proprietary advances in gene transfer techniques with combinatorial biology, genomics and ultra high-throughput functional screening. The technology allows scientists to quickly probe the inner circuitry of diseased cells to find the targets that control cell function and can be specifically and safely modulated by orally-administered drugs to treat disease.
Aurora combines innovative biotechnology with its novel, high-technology automation and software to provide solutions to challenges in drug discovery for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The Company's core technologies include a broad portfolio of proprietary fluorescence assay technologies; its functional genomics GenomeScreen(TM) program; and its ultra-high throughput screening system (UHTSS(TM) Platform) and subsystems to miniaturize and automate assays derived from those technologies within a computer-controlled integrated system, capable of searching through expansive libraries of compounds to identify those that might lead to new medicines. Aurora seeks to become a leader in providing services, technology and information that enhance and accelerate its customers' ability to discover new therapeutics through three main strategies: (1) providing customized drug discovery services, allowing the customer to outsource some part or all of its discovery needs, (2) developing and selling systems, instruments and technologies to augment the customer's own discovery efforts, and (3) licensing the Company's growing intellectual property portfolio. Current customers include American Home Products, Becton Dickinson, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Clontech Laboratories, Inc., Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Cytovia, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Exelixis Pharmaceuticals, F.Hoffmann-LaRoche Ltd., Genentech, Inc., Glaxo Wellcome, Merck & Co., Inc., National Cancer Institute, Pfizer, Inc., and Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc and Warner-Lambert. For additional information on Aurora's services and products, please contact Sales and Marketing via email at marcom@aurorabio.com or by phone at (858) 404-8508.
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are "forward-looking" statements which involve a high degree of technological and competitive risks and uncertainties that exist in the Company's operations and business environment. Such statements are only predictions and the Company's actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning the collection of future payments, including annual or milestone payments, which may differ substantially from those stated herein. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include risks associated with the Company's dependence on patents and proprietary rights, which have inherent uncertainties and are subject to challenge from third parties, new and uncertain technology, dependence on pharmaceutical and biotechnology collaborations, and the development or availability of competing systems. These factors and others are more fully described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1998, and subsequent Form 10-Q's as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For additional corporate information, visit the Aurora website at aurorabio.com.
UHTSS(TM) and GenomeScreen(TM) are trademarks of Aurora Biosciences Corporation.
SOURCE Aurora Biosciences Corporation
CO: Aurora Biosciences Corporation; Rigel, Inc.
ST: California
IN: HEA BIO
SU: CON
02/14/2000 07:30 EST prnewswire.com |
