Kalypsys Enters Drug Discovery and Development Collaboration
2003-11-17 08:04 (New York)
With CV Therapeutics
LA JOLLA, Calif., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Kalypsys, Inc., announced today
a collaboration with CV Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CVTX) to discover, develop
and commercialize novel treatments for cardiovascular disease. The
collaboration combines Kalypsys' proprietary lead discovery, medicinal
chemistry and informatics technologies with CV Therapeutics' proven strengths
in target validation, pre-clinical pharmacology and clinical development of
cardiovascular drug candidates.
CV Therapeutics will contribute proprietary assays and lead compounds to
initiate the collaboration. Kalypsys will develop high throughput screens,
run them against its proprietary compound collection, and then use its
medicinal chemistry and informatics capabilities to optimize CV Therapeutics'
existing leads and new leads identified at Kalypsys. CV Therapeutics will
later carry out pharmacological studies, pre-clinical development and human
trials, as appropriate.
Under the terms of the agreement, Kalypsys will receive an upfront
payment, research funding, equity investments and milestone payments, and it
will have the option of co-funding and co-developing all drug candidates that
result from the partnership. If Kalypsys has elected not to co-fund or has
withdrawn its co-funding, Kalypsys also has the option to later opt back in to
co-funding a program.
Dr. Louis Lange, Chief Executive Officer at CV Therapeutics said,
"Kalypsys' highly efficient lead discovery and optimization capabilities
should allow us to rapidly obtain top-priority lead compounds against our drug
targets. We believe this collaboration will be a source of important new drug
candidates which may improve the likelihood of clinical success."
"CV Therapeutics is an acknowledged leader in the development of potential
new therapies for cardiovascular disease and has demonstrated great skill in
moving drug candidates through the clinic," said Dr. Kevin Lustig, Kalypsys
co-founder and Director, Lead Discovery. "We are thrilled to join with them
to develop important new medicines for cardiovascular disease."
"We feel the most efficient route to creating a sustainable pipeline of
drug candidates is through a combination of internal development and external
collaborations, both of which we are actively pursuing," said Dr. John
McKearn, Chief Scientific Officer at Kalypsys. "This partnership offers us a
great opportunity to work in the cardiovascular arena with a proven leader and
share ownership in the resulting commercial products."
About Kalypsys
Kalypsys is a biopharmaceutical company that uses advanced automation
technologies to evaluate drug candidates in cellular models of disease and
then optimize the safety and efficacy of select candidates. Through the use
of its technology, Kalypsys is able to make better decisions earlier in the
discovery process. Kalypsys is developing drug leads in multiple therapeutic
areas including cancer, inflammation, metabolic diseases and cardiovascular
disorders. In addition to carrying out drug discovery programs based on
internal research, Kalypsys seeks to enhance partners' discovery programs
through technology-transfer or collaborative relationships. Kalypsys
completed a $43 million series A financing round in April of 2002, led by the
Sprout Group, co-led by Tavistock Life Sciences and included CMEA Ventures,
Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie, 5AM Ventures, Novartis Bioventure Fund,
Aravis Ventures, Alejandro Zaffaroni and the Singapore E.D.B.
For more information on Kalypsys, please visit kalypsys.com . |
