Tuesday June 6, 7:30 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. Announces Advancement
of Research Program in Obesity and Diabetes
Program Awarded National Institutes of Health Grant
SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--June 6, 2000--Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. (Nasdaq:NBIX - news) announced today that
the company has achieved early milestones in its Melanocortin receptor research program in obesity and diabetes and has
advanced this project to program status.
This coincides with an award from the NIH of a Phase I grant supporting Neurocrine's research and development efforts on
Melanocortin receptor research. Neurocrine's most advanced drug discovery program within the MCR area is the development
of orally active and selective agonists of Melanocortin Receptor 4 (MCR4). Agents which activate the MCR4 are expected to
be useful for indications where regulation of melanocortin responsive components in the central nervous system is beneficial,
such as regulation of body weight and diabetes.
Neurocrine holds patent positions on MCRs 1-5 through exclusive and non-exclusive patent licenses as part of its acquisition of
Northwest Neurologic (NNL). Dr. Roger Cone, co-founder of NNL and Professor at the Vollum Institute of the Oregon
Health Sciences University was one of the first groups to clone the human forms of the melanocortin receptors and has played a
leading role in the characterization of the function of melanocortins in the central nervous system.
The overall goal of the program is to develop orally active and selective agonists of MCR4. Neurocrine scientists have used
human MCR4 binding and secondary messenger assays in high throughput screens to identify a set of small molecule MCR4
agonists with modest potency and efficacy. In the Phase I grant high throughput parallel synthesis, in combination with intuitive
medicinal chemistry and computational chemistry (``multi-channel'' technology), will be used to optimize several compound
families and develop lead molecules with higher potency. The activity of these agonists will then be evaluated against the full
panel of MCRs to construct a selectivity profile. With several compounds identified in the primary screens, the company
expects the improvements generated by these technologies will lead to compounds having the desired profile to be considered
development candidates.
``The MC-4 receptor agonist program extends the company's small molecule expertise into another type of small molecule
drug, one that mimics the natural ligand,'' said Dr. Roger Cone. ``Neurocrine researchers have repeatedly demonstrated their
ability to develop G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) ligands that show promise for the treatment of a number of disorders,''
said Cone.
Neurocrine scientists, led by co-project leaders Dr. Val Goodfellow and Steve Kurtz, using the company's ``multi-channel''
approach described above, have rapidly developed several families of small molecule agonists with improved affinity for the
human receptor. ``The MCR4 program capitalizes on Neurocrine's GPCR platform and the power of the integrated research
and development approach underlying Neurocrine's programs. We feel that receipt of the NIH award provides peer review
validation of the program as well as funding through outside sources,'' said Paul J. Conlon, vice president Discovery Research.
``We expect to bring a small molecule MCR4 agonist compound into preclinical development during 2001.''
Neurocrine Biosciences is a leading neuroscience company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for
neuropsychiatric, neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases and disorders. The company's neuroscience, endocrine
and immunology disciplines provide a unique biological understanding of the molecular interaction between central nervous,
immune and endocrine systems for the development of therapeutic interventions for anxiety, depression, insomnia, stroke,
malignant brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, obesity and diabetes.
Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. news releases are available through the company's Web site via the Internet at
neurocrine.com.
In addition to historical facts, this press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward looking
statements are risks and uncertainties associated with Neurocrine's research and development programs and business and
finances including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with, or arising out of, drug discovery, pre-clinical and
clinical development of products including risk that research may not generate development candidates, development
candidates will not successfully proceed through early clinical trials or that in later stage clinical trials will not show that they are
effective in treating humans; determinations by regulatory and governmental authorities; changes in relationships with strategic
partners and dependence upon strategic partners for performance of clinical and commercialization activities under
collaborative agreements including potential for any collaboration agreement to be terminated without any product success;
uncertainties relating to patent protection and intellectual property rights of third parties; impact of competitive products and
technological changes; availability of capital and cost of capital; and other material risks. A more complete description of these
risks can be found in the company's Form 10K for Dec. 31, 1998. Neurocrine undertakes no obligation to update the
statements contained in this press release after the date hereof.
Contact:
Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.
Claudia Jones or Paul Hawran, 858/658-7600 |
