Tularik Receives Milestone Payment From Eli Lilly and Company
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 7, 2001-- Tularik Inc. (Nasdaq:TLRK - news) today announced that its anti-thrombotic research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY - news) has successfully progressed to an advanced stage of preclinical development, triggering an undisclosed milestone payment to Tularik.
As part of the July 2001 acquisition of the computer-aided molecular design (CAMD) unit of Protherics PLC, Tularik inherited all existing CAMD research agreements, including the anti-thrombotic research collaboration with Lilly. In addition, the acquisition included proprietary virtual screening and molecular modeling software and a team of software designers, computational chemists and medicinal chemists.
The multi-year Lilly collaboration was established to design and optimize inhibitors of Factor Xa using Tularik's CAMD technology, as well as to investigate other potential anti-thrombotic targets. In addition to the current milestone payment, Tularik is entitled to additional payments for Factor Xa inhibitors as they progress through clinical trials to registration. Royalties are payable on sales of products emerging from the collaboration.
``The use of these capabilities in a successful collaboration with Lilly further demonstrates the value of our new, proprietary CAMD technology,'' remarked David V. Goeddel, Ph.D., Tularik's CEO. ``The acquisition of virtual screening capabilities is another example of Tularik's strategy to apply novel technologies to augment and accelerate our small molecule drug discovery effort.''
Factor Xa inhibitors are a new class of compounds targeting the blood-clotting process, with the aim of preventing or limiting clot formation. Blood clots cause serious and often fatal conditions, including heart attacks, strokes and deep vein thrombosis. Current therapies for these diseases rely mainly on injectable drugs, which have drawbacks in clinical usage. Over 10 million people worldwide are eligible to receive oral anticoagulants for the prevention and treatment of thrombotic diseases.
About the CAMD Acquisition
On July 12, 2001, Tularik announced that it had acquired the (CAMD) unit of Protherics PLC, a U.K.-based company. The acquisition included the transfer of Protherics' CAMD technology, consisting of its proprietary Prometheus virtual screening software and its VA Linux hardware system. Existing CAMD research agreements were also transferred to Tularik. The entity formed as a result of the transfer of these Protherics assets remains in Macclesfield (UK) and is now called Tularik Ltd... |
