April 5 /PRNewswire Interactive Release/ -- Structural GenomiX today announced that it signed a formal agreement to acquire Prospect Genomics, a leader in high throughput, computational approaches to drug discovery. The merger will extend Structural GenomiX's capabilities in structure-aided drug discovery by incorporating high throughput computational tools that can predict, identify and optimize drug candidates, and assign function to proteins. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.
``This deal immediately enhances our core structure determination programs with a proven, complementary suite of in silico technologies,'' said Tim Harris, President and CEO of SGX. ``By means of the acquisition, Structural GenomiX gains access to advanced technology for predicting protein structure by comparative and ab initio modeling techniques and to the largest collection of computer-modeled 3-D protein structures currently available. These tools will enable a systematic approach to computer-aided docking of virtual small molecule libraries against both predicted and experimentally determined protein structures.''
``The synergies of our computational approach with Structural GenomiX's structural biology capabilities will allow us to create the leading high throughput, structure-aided drug discovery company,'' said Richard Goold, President of Prospect Genomics and former Vice President of Research at Incyte. ``Prospect Genomics' strength in computational genomics will enable researchers at Structural GenomiX to identify not only the best drug targets but the most optimal small molecule candidates for development.''
``Integrating Prospect Genomics into Structural GenomiX continues to leverage the value of SGX's novel structures for drug discovery,'' said George Poste, Chairman of SGX. ``Applying Prospect Genomics' computational tools and protein databases to SGX's structure determination platform will speed up the identification and optimization of potential small molecule therapeutics.''
``The combination of these two companies will create a formidable organization to facilitate drug discovery in the post-genomic era,'' said Bill Rutter, chairman emeritus of Chiron and a founder of Prospect Genomics, who will join the board of SGX.
Prospect Genomics is an early-stage computational genomics company with the mission to develop novel computational technologies for translating genomic information into the discovery and development of new pharmaceuticals. The Company has a full suite of structure determination programs and the exclusive license to a comprehensive database of three-dimensional protein structure models from Rockefeller University. The Company is also developing virtual chemical libraries, and high throughput computational methods for screening its chemical libraries against protein structures.
The founders of Prospect Genomics are leaders in the fields of protein structure prediction, protein structure dynamics and refinement, the docking of ligands to proteins, and protein structure determination by X-ray crystallography. Along with Goold, and Tod Klingler, Vice President of Prospect Genomics and a former Senior Director of Research Bioinformatics at Incyte, Prospect Genomics' founders are: David Baker, developer of ROSETTA, the leading algorithm for ab initio modeling, as demonstrated at the last two CASP meetings, and Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Washington; Stephen K. Burley, Professor at Rockefeller University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Ken A. Dill, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Biophysics at UCSF; Peter Kollman, Professor of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, UCSF, whose group developed the well-known molecular mechanics/dynamics computer program AMBER; Irwin D. Kuntz, the originator of the well-known DOCK software, Professor of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Associate Dean of Research for the School of Pharmacy and Director of the Molecular Design Institute at UCSF; William J. Rutter, former chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and co-founder and Chairman of Chiron; Andrej Sali, author of the protein structure modeling program MODELLER and Associate Professor at Rockefeller University; and Daniel V. Santi, CEO of Kosan.
The founders of Structural GenomiX include leaders in structural biology, protein structure prediction, and genomics. Structural GenomiX's founders are: Wayne Hendrickson, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University and a pioneer in the development of the Multiwavelength Anomolous Dispersion (MAD) technique for X-ray crystal structure determination; Barry Honig, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, and a developer of leading theoretical methods for analyzing the biochemical properties of macromolecules; Linda Grais, Executive Vice President of SGX and a physician and attorney with broad experience working with emerging companies in the life sciences; and Tim Harris, President and CEO of SGX.
SGX is a pioneer in high throughput protein structure determination. The company integrates advances in genomics, bioinformatics and X-ray crystallography into a high-throughput structure determination platform that transforms DNA sequence into three dimensional protein structures. These structures reveal important functional and binding information that researchers can use to develop novel drugs. Protein structures determined by SGX will impact target validation and will enable efficient lead generation and optimization, currently a major industry bottleneck. SGX protein structures will be available to strategic partners across the biopharmaceutical, agricultural, and chemical industries. SGX currently employs 100 people at its facility in San Diego, CA. For more information, please see the company website at stromix.com. |
