SAN DIEGO and RICHMOND, Calif., Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Syrrx Inc. and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONXX - news) announced today that Syrrx has acquired certain assets from the Small Molecules Discovery Program of Onyx. These assets will accelerate the drug discovery efforts at Syrrx by bringing additional competencies to its high-throughput structural proteomics platform. Onyx has ended its research efforts for the discovery of novel small molecules to focus on the development of products that resulted from prior collaborations with Warner-Lambert and Bayer. Onyx will focus on its diversified pipeline of products to treat cancer at the molecular level using both small molecules and therapeutic viruses.
Syrrx will receive the following assets: certain drug targets, including related reagents and assays; compound libraries; and licenses to certain intellectual property assets and technologies related to Onyx's Small Molecules Discovery Program. In return, Onyx will receive equity in Syrrx, future milestone payments and royalties on pharmaceutical products resulting from these assets.
``Onyx's years of experience in its Small Molecules Discovery Program have resulted in product candidates that target cancer and inflammation, some of which are in early development or clinical trials with Bayer and Pfizer,'' said Wendell Wierenga, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Syrrx. ``Biotechnology will be led by companies promising lead compounds backed by novel drug discovery technologies, and Syrrx's structural proteomics technology is among the most advanced in the industry. The assets provided by Onyx will further accelerate our drug discovery efforts and result in potential drug candidates.''
``Onyx and our collaborators have identified novel first in class small molecules including BAY43-9006 which we are co-developing in ongoing clinical trials as well as other development candidates. Onyx will focus on development of these products instead of continuing with further small molecule discovery efforts,'' said Hollings C. Renton, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Onyx. ``Onyx is continuing its research and development efforts for therapeutic virus products including ONYX-015 which is in Phase III clinical trials.''
Gideon Bollag, Ph.D, the former director of Onyx's Small Molecules Discovery Program, has joined Syrrx as the Director of Cellular Pharmacology and will be leading the effort to incorporate these assets into Syrrx's drug discovery program. As recently announced, Syrrx expanded its drug discovery team with the appointment of David Webb, Ph.D., as Vice President of Drug Discovery, and four directors including Bollag.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the discovery and development of novel cancer therapies. ONYX-015 is currently in a Phase III clinical trial for head and neck cancer and in Phase I and II clinical trials for a number of additional cancer indications. For more information about ONYX-015 and Onyx's pipeline and activities, visit Onyx's Web site at www.onyx-pharm.com.
Syrrx Inc. is a drug discovery company redefining the way medicine is discovered. Based in San Diego, the company is the technology leader in the field of structural proteomics, the process of generating protein structures from genetic information for drug discovery. Syrrx uses its proprietary high-throughput ``gene to drug'' technology platform for rational discovery of new therapeutics. The company has formed a collaboration with Cubist Pharmaceuticals to discover and characterize novel anti-infective drugs. More information about Syrrx and its partnerships can be found on the company's web site at syrrx.com |
