Tularik Receives Milestone Payment from Eli Lilly and Company
Tuesday November 12, 5:00 am ET
Oral Factor Xa Inhibitor Enters Phase 1 Study for the Treatment of Thrombotic Diseases
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 12, 2002--Tularik Inc. (Nasdaq:TLRK - News) has earned an undisclosed milestone payment from its corporate partner, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY - News), which has begun clinical development of an orally available Factor Xa inhibitor for the prevention and treatment of thrombotic diseases.
"The commencement of human dosing for this drug candidate further validates our innovative approaches to drug discovery and medicinal chemistry and points to the value of our proprietary computer-aided molecular design (CAMD) technology," said David V. Goeddel, Ph.D., CEO of Tularik. "We enjoy a close working relationship with our colleagues at Lilly and are very pleased with the progress of the program to date."
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. Tularik received a milestone payment in November 2001 when the Factor Xa compound progressed to an advanced stage of preclinical development. 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.
Inhibition of Factor Xa by injectable drugs is already well validated in the clinic as a useful anti-thrombotic strategy. Direct acting Factor Xa inhibitors offer the potential advantage of simple oral administration 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. Datamonitor forecasts the global market for anticoagulants could reach $9.6 billion by 2008.
About Tularik
Tularik is engaged in the discovery and development of a broad range of novel and superior orally available medicines that act through the regulation of gene expression. Tularik's scientific platform is focused on three therapeutic areas: cancer, immunology and metabolic disease. The Company currently has three drug candidates in clinical trials. T67 is moving into a pivotal Phase 2/3 study for the treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) and T607 is in four Phase 2 trials for the treatment of HCC, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, ovarian cancer and gastric cancer. T487, for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, is in a Phase 1 trial to evaluate safety. For more information, visit Tularik's Internet website at www.tularik.com.
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements. For this purpose, any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Tularik to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in Tularik's SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2002 and the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001. Tularik does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
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Contact:
Tularik Inc.
Traci McCarty, 650/825-7182 (investors/media) |
