Busy day for the PR guys -
WARREN, N.J., June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Celgene Corporation (Nasdaq: CELG - news) announced today that it has significantly expanded its intellectual property estate and its portfolio of novel drug targets through exclusive worldwide license agreements with three leading research institutions -- New York University School of Medicine, the Research Foundation of the State University of New York and the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. The licenses cover the identification, validation and use of ligases -- enzymes that control the proper levels of both normal and disease-causing proteins in cells -- for drug discovery. The two licenses, combined with Celgene's internal ligase discovery efforts, provide the company with 38 potential new drug targets.
Important Role of Ligases in Health and Disease
Key cellular functions such as cell growth, differentiation and metabolism are regulated by a wide range of proteins that include enzymes, transcription factors and cell surface receptors. To maintain their normal functions, cells must tightly regulate both the production and removal of a wide range of proteins that control cellular activities. Ligases are important regulatory enzymes that serve to maintain the proper types and levels of proteins in cells. Under normal conditions, ligases play a key role in preventing disease by marking unwanted or damaged proteins for destruction within cells. When unwanted or abnormal proteins are not properly removed within cells, abnormalities in cellular functions may occur and give rise to diseases such as cancer, inflammation and neurodegeneration. For example, many cancers are caused by the inappropriate removal of vital tumor suppressor proteins, such as p53 and p27, that results in cancer cell proliferation.
A major focus of pharmaceutical research today is the development of drugs that regulate disease-causing proteins. The ligases licensed by Celgene, combined with multiple new ligases identified through the company's internal discovery efforts, represent an important new class of targets for selectively controlling the clearance of cellular proteins that may cause or prevent disease.
License and Research Collaboration Agreement with New York University School of Medicine
Celgene has entered into an exclusive worldwide license and multi-year research collaboration agreement with New York University School of Medicine, where Celgene will work with Dr. Michele Pagano on the functional validation of ubiquitin-ligase drug targets and the subsequent development of transgenic models for evaluation of ligase-targeted drug leads. The agreement with New York University School of Medicine covers 26 ligases identified and characterized by Dr. Pagano and for which patents have been filed, including the IkB and p27 ligases. Many of these protein-regulating enzymes are expected to have broad therapeutic potential in cancer, inflammation and other major disease fields. Dr. Pagano is a leading researcher in the rapidly expanding field of cell cycle regulation.
License Agreement with the Research Foundation of the State University of New York and the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children
Celgene also has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with the Research Foundation of the State University of New York and the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children covering two ligase targets that mediate TGF-Beta signaling, for which patents have been filed. TGF-Beta is a multi-functional cytokine that has been shown to play a number of important biological roles, including inhibition of cell proliferation associated with cancer. TGF-Beta carries out this function, in part, by maintaining an appropriate level and type of tumor suppressor proteins in cells. Therefore, drugs targeting ligases that mediate TGF-Beta signaling would promote anti-proliferative effects and thus provide a novel and potentially more effective strategy for treating cancer and other proliferative diseases. The Signal Research Division of Celgene already has advanced the first ligase target covered under this agreement into high throughput screening.
``These license agreements demonstrate our commitment to be at the cutting edge of molecular medicine in the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases,'' said Sol J. Barer, Ph.D., President and COO of Celgene Corporation. ``This significant expansion of our portfolio of novel drug targets is an important element of our strategy to establish Celgene as a leading player in the emerging ligase field,'' added Dr. Barer... |
