SAN DIEGO, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI) and Structural GenomiX, Inc. (SGX) today announced a two-year collaboration agreement to utilize SGX's structure-directed drug discovery technologies to support BIPI's lead optimization activities. This newly formed partnership will leverage SGX's automated, high-throughput protein structure determination platform to accelerate the discovery of optimized leads and aid in the identification of improved drug candidates.
Using its large-scale gene-to-structure technology platform and comprehensive bioinformatics capabilities, SGX will solve the 3-dimensional structure of BIPI identified drug targets. Once the initial 3-D structure of a protein has been solved, SGX scientists will rapidly generate co-crystal data to show how potential drug leads interact with the protein. Through the rapid iterative determination of co-crystal structures, SGX and BIPI scientists will gain critical insights on how leads can be improved on an accelerated timeframe. The ultimate goal of the collaboration is to accelerate the discovery of novel medicines to treat major diseases and disorders.
"SGX has developed the ability both to solve initial protein structures quickly and then to elucidate the 3-D interaction between compounds and drug targets in a high-throughput manner that is well matched to the medicinal chemistry workflow," said Dr. Peter Mueller, Senior Vice President for Research and Development, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. "Up until now, the process of solving protein structures has been too slow and unpredictable to shorten the timeline reliably for lead generation and optimization. SGX has found a fast and efficient way to generate these protein structures. Partnering with SGX will enhance our own abilities to discover drug candidates."
"We look forward to a long and rewarding partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and are confident we can achieve our mutual goals of rapidly moving targets through the lead discovery process using our structure-based platform," said Tim Harris, Ph.D., SGX's President and CEO. "This collaboration further validates our technological capabilities in a competitive environment and is an important step for us in building a successful company."
About Structural GenomiX
Structural GenomiX, Inc. (SGX) is a drug discovery company utilizing a genomics-driven high-throughput structure-based platform to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the drug discovery process. The SGX approach identifies potent and selective drug candidates that are targeted to individual members of protein families. Proprietary SGX technologies include advanced bioinformatics, automated molecular biology and protein biochemistry, high-throughput crystallization, rapid structure determination, high-throughput compound docking and medicinal chemistry. SGX drives the lead optimization process through iterative determination of co-crystal structures that reveal, in great detail, how small molecules interact with drug targets. SGX has established unparalleled capacity in this area by building a world-class facility for the collection of macromolecular X-ray diffraction data at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), located at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. The Company is based in San Diego, California. For more information, please visit our website at www.stromix.com .
About Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., based in Ridgefield, CT, is the largest U.S. subsidiary of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation (Ridgefield, CT) and a member of the Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies. The Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies, headquartered in Ingelheim (Germany), is one of the 20 leading pharmaceutical firms in the world. In 2001, it reported revenues of US $6 billion.
Boehringer Ingelheim, which has some 140 affiliated companies in 42 countries worldwide, focuses on human pharmaceuticals and animal health. The human pharmaceuticals business, which accounts for 95% of sales, is comprised of prescription medicines, consumer health care products and chemicals and biopharmaceuticals for industrial customers. Research and development, production, and distribution facilities are located around the globe. In 2001, Boehringer Ingelheim's R&D spending was more than US $900 million, which is almost a fifth of net sales in prescription medicines.
For more information on Boehringer Ingelheim, please see the international Internet website www.boehringer-ingelheim.com . |
