CAMBRIDGE, Mass., and SAN DIEGO, June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBST - news) and Syrrx, Inc., a privately held company, today announced the formation of an antiinfective drug discovery collaboration. The joint effort will use Syrrx and Cubist technologies for the high-throughput characterization of novel antiinfective drug targets and rational drug design. As a result of the collaboration, the companies expect to accelerate the discovery of novel classes of antibiotics to treat infectious diseases, including those resistant to current therapies. Financial incentives for the collaboration include research and clinical milestones, royalties and an upfront equity investment in Syrrx by Cubist.
Syrrx's technology platform systematically bypasses historical bottlenecks in the classical protein structure determination process. Deployed in a streamlined, factory-like environment, Syrrx's automated systems enable the high-throughput determination of protein structures more reliably and economically than previously thought possible. This capability is used in combination with computational drug discovery approaches to identify novel drug candidates.
Syrrx will work to determine the three-dimensional structure of certain antiinfective targets identified through Cubist discovery efforts. The majority of these targets have been derived from bacterial and fungal genes of interest and have been validated to be essential for bacterial or fungal survival. As structures are determined, targets will enter a structure-based drug-design phase to screen for potential drug candidates. Cubist and Syrrx will then determine whether such drug candidates will enter into medicinal chemistry programs. These programs will be conducted either jointly or separately by each company, as specified in the agreement.
``We are very pleased to be entering into this alliance with Cubist,'' said Wendell Wierenga, Ph.D., CEO of Syrrx. ``We believe it is the first structural proteomics alliance of its kind and scope, given the large number of antiinfective drug targets subject to parallel discovery efforts. With Syrrx's high-throughput capabilities and Cubist's experience in antiinfectives and rational drug design, we hope to demonstrate that rational drug discovery is a scalable paradigm. Our collaboration with Cubist,'' Dr. Wierenga added, ``is the first of what we expect to be a series of similar research and discovery collaborations in a number of therapeutic areas.''
George ``Skip'' Shimer, Ph.D., Vice President of Research at Cubist commented, ``We feel this collaboration with Syrrx to be an ideal leveraging of both companies' strengths. Specifically, we believe the synergies between Syrrx's structural proteomics platform and both our VITA(TM) technology, which identifies novel antiinfective targets, and our ChemInformatics technology, which facilitates the design of novel antiinfectives, should allow us to advance multiple candidates into medicinal chemistry programs. We are hopeful that these programs will contribute significantly to our growing antiinfective product pipeline.''
Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is focused on becoming a global leader in the research, development and commercialization of novel antimicrobial drugs to combat serious and life-threatening bacterial and fungal infections. Cubist is evaluating the safety and efficacy of Cidecin(TM) (daptomycin for injection) in the EDGE(TM) (Evaluation of Daptomycin against Gram-positive Entities) clinical trial program and has broadened its pipeline to include multiple pre-clinical drug candidates. The Company is engaged in strategic partnerships with Novartis Pharma AG and Merck & Co., Inc. for the discovery and development of novel antiinfectives and with Gilead Sciences for the commercialization of daptomycin in Europe. Cubist is headquartered in Cambridge, MA and has operations in Vancouver, BC, Canada and Slough, UK.
Syrrx, Inc. is a San Diego biotechnology company shaping the future of drug discovery. The company is the technological leader in the field of structural proteomics, the process of generating protein structures from genetic information. Syrrx uses its proprietary technologies to rapidly generate protein structures for the discovery of new drugs. This process enables a unique ``gene to drug'' platform based on the ability to perform high- throughput rational drug discovery... |
