Monday June 19, 9:55 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Neurogen Corporation
Neurogen Announces Agreement to Develop Obesity
Drugs With Pfizer's Animal Health Division
BRANFORD, Conn., June 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Neurogen Corporation (Nasdaq: NRGN - news), a leading drug discovery
and development company, today announced a new licensing agreement with Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE - news) for the
development of Neurogen's drug candidates to treat obesity in companion animals. This new deal brings the total number of
Neurogen-Pfizer drug discovery agreements to six in the past eight years.
The goal of this new collaboration is to develop two types of small molecule pharmaceuticals, or pills, which will selectively
block the NPY1 and the NPY5 neurotransmitters, respectively. NPY (neuropeptide Y) is strongly linked to appetite and is
regarded as the most potent known stimulator of eating in animals. In a variety of animal studies Neurogen has demonstrated
that its selective NPY1 and NPY5 antagonists block NPY-induced feeding and produce significant weight loss.
By adding companion animals to the treatment population, this agreement expands the 1995 agreement between Neurogen and
Pfizer to develop new drugs working through NPY to treat obesity in humans.
Selected drug candidates from that collaboration will now be identified for the treatment of obesity in companion animals.
Neurogen will receive milestone payments on drug candidates as they progress through development and royalty payments
when such candidates are marketed. All development costs will be borne by Pfizer. Obesity often occurs in older pets and
triggers many other common disorders, such as arthritis and joint discomfort, hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes that can
lead to a shortened life span.
``This expanded application of Neurogen's NPY obesity drug development program to include companion animals offers a new
and potentially quite lucrative addition to our product pipeline,'' said Harry H. Penner, President and CEO of Neurogen.
``Pfizer has developed a significant range of products to treat companion animals worldwide, making them an excellent partner
to exploit Neurogen's obesity drug candidates for improved companion animal care.''
In 1998, Neurogen announced a similar collaboration with Pfizer to develop drugs to treat companion animals suffering from
anxiety and cognitive disorders.
Neurogen is a leader in both the discovery and development of new drug candidates to treat large market psychiatric,
metabolic and inflammatory disorders and in the development and integration of new drug discovery technologies within its
AIDD(TM) (Accelerated Intelligent Drug Discovery) program. Neurogen has generated a growing portfolio of compelling new
drug programs that promise improved efficacy and reduced side effects. Through strategic collaborations with world-class
pharmaceutical companies on its individual drug programs, Neurogen couples its ability to generate multiple drug candidates
with the proven drug development and marketing expertise of its partners. These collaborations help to finance the company's
operations and hold the promise of valuable royalties and profit sharing upon the commercialization of Neurogen's products.
Neurogen also finances its activities via licenses of its AIDD technologies to other companies.
The information in this press release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties as detailed
from time to time in Neurogen's SEC filings, including its most recent 10-K. Actual results may differ materially from the
statements made as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, risks associated with the inherent uncertainty of
Company research, difficulties or delays in development, testing, regulatory approval, production and marketing of any of the
Company's drug candidates, adverse side effects or inadequate therapeutic efficacy of the Company's drug candidates,
advancement of competitive products, dependence on corporate partners, sufficiency of cash to fund the Company's planned
operations and patent, product liability and third party reimbursement risks associated with the pharmaceutical industry.
SOURCE: Neurogen Corporation |
