SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 2003--Structural Bioinformatics Inc. (SBI) and GeneFormatics Inc. (GFI) announced today that they have agreed to merge operations to create the new leader in proteomics-based drug discovery.
The merger has been approved by the two companies' boards of directors and is subject to final approval from the California Department of Corporations and the shareholders of both companies.
"This merger is driven by the remarkable synergies between SBI and GFI," stated Dr. Edward Maggio, CEO of SBI. "The merged company will have a broader product offering to increase revenues; expanded drug discovery capabilities with a deeper pipeline, including pre-clinical programs in diabetes, anti-infectives, oncology, and inflammation; and adequate capital resources to execute its business plan beyond 2005."
"At a time when most companies only talk of such transactions, we are actually doing it," commented John Chiplin, CEO of GeneFormatics. "It is noteworthy not only for the shareholders and the employees of both companies, but for the biotech industry."
The newly formed entity will remain headquartered in San Diego and the new management team will consist of Edward T. Maggio, Ph.D., CEO; David D. Muth, President and COO; John P. Schmid, CFO and Secretary; and Kal Ramnarayan, Ph.D., Vice President and CSO.
Dennis Purcell, Senior Managing Partner of the Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund, the largest investor in the combined company, said, "We believe this transaction will be viewed by many other biotechnology companies as an attractive way to build value for shareholders. With critical mass and sufficient cash, the merged company can build a significant revenue base and weather difficult financial markets. By combining the scientific, managerial and product development strengths of these companies, we are creating a stronger company to achieve significant value-generating milestones."
The new company enjoys a blue chip group of investors including Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund, New York Life, Burrill & Co, Inglewood Ventures, Biotechnology Development Fund (BioAsia), Deutsche Asset Management, OrbiMed Advisors, Merrill Lynch, and The Invesco Global Health Sciences Fund.
About Structural Bioinformatics Inc.
SBI is a privately-held proteomics-driven drug discovery company utilizing proprietary technologies for accelerating and optimizing the drug discovery process. SBI incorporates these technologies to advance its own drug pipeline, and concurrently markets them to pharmaceutical and to other drug discovery-focused biotech companies. SBI's internal drug discovery programs are focused on diabetes, cancer, inflammation and infectious diseases. SBI's Genes to Leads® technology produces drug leads in as little as 60 days, with an efficiency that is more than 1,000-fold greater than high-throughput screening. SBI is headquartered in San Diego, with offices in Cambridge, Mass.; Washington, D.C. and Horsholm, Denmark. More information may be found on SBI's Web site at strubix.com.
About GeneFormatics Inc.
GeneFormatics Inc. is a drug discovery company whose DIAMOND(TM) (Diverse Integrated Automated Methods of Novel Discovery(TM)) technologies integrate structural and chemoproteomics. The company rapidly and systematically analyzes entire genomes at the functional level to discover potential protein targets and potential leads that are selective for those targets. This "functional family" approach allows GeneFormatics to focus on designing-in specificity and designing-out cross-reactivity of drug candidates. This highly integrated approach has produced more than 6,000 novel discoveries on human proteins, which allows the company and its partners to identify highly specific leads for selected target families on an unprecedented scale. More information can be found at www.geneformatics.com.
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