Sankyo Company, Ltd. and ArQule, Inc. Execute a Broad Three Year Collaboration for the Discovery of Novel Pharmaceuticals
Monday November 17, 8:29 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release: SOURCE: ArQule, Inc.
TOKYO, and MEDFORD, Mass., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- ArQule, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQL - news) and Sankyo Company, Ltd. announced today a broad collaboration to discover and optimize drug candidates. The agreement calls for use of ArQule's Mapping Array(TM) and Directed Array(TM) programs in identifying and optimizing lead compounds for a number of therapeutic areas. Under terms of the agreement, Sankyo will receive a three year subscription to ArQule's Mapping Array(TM) program to discover new lead compounds. ArQule's Mapping Array(TM) program generates a chemical information database of structural activity relationships from biased compound sets of novel, diverse, and pure small organic compounds. Once leads are identified, Sankyo will use ArQule's Directed Array(TM) program to rapidly optimize those lead compounds as drug candidates for the clinic. ArQule's Directed Array(TM) program is an iterative parallel process used to produce analog sets of desired lead compounds and rapidly develop optimized drug candidates. Payments will be made to ArQule for delivery of the Mapping Array(TM) and Directed Array(TM) programs and for achieved milestones. In addition, ArQule will be entitled to royalties from sales of any products emanating from this collaboration.
''We view our partnership with ArQule as an integral component of our drug discovery program due to ArQule's unsurpassed ability to provide a vast amount of data on compounds to be applied to the drug discovery process. The combination of ArQule's scientific team, technology and integrated Mapping Array(TM) and Directed Array(TM) programs provides rapid solutions in parallel. We look forward to working with ArQule to create better drugs more intelligently and rapidly,'' said the Director of the Research Division of Sankyo.
''This collaboration with Sankyo further evidences ArQule's ability to streamline the drug discovery process and offer significant advantages to leading companies in the pharmaceutical industry around the world. Sankyo has an outstanding track record in pharmaceutical development, manufacture and marketing, and we look forward to working with Sankyo to identify promising pharmaceutical compounds,'' said Eric B. Gordon, President and CEO of ArQule, Inc.
Sankyo Company, Ltd. is the second largest pharmaceutical company in Japan. Headquartered in Tokyo and established in 1899, Sankyo employs nearly 7,000 people. As a research-based developer, manufacturer and marketer, Sankyo has introduced several breakthrough drugs to the international market, including its own ethical drug, Mevaloti (pravastatin), an in-house developed hyperlipemia agent, Noscal (troglitazone), a hypoglycemic agent with a new mode of action, Banan (cefpodoxime proxetil), an oral cephalosporin antibiotic, and the largest anti-inflammatory drug in Japan, Loxonin (loxoprofen sodium).
ArQule, Inc. is a leading chemistry company in accelerated drug discovery using its high throughput lead generation and lead optimization technologies. ArQule provides new pathways to product discovery by integrating five core technologies -- modular building block technology, structure-guided design, high speed parallel chemical synthesis, information technology and an Automated Molecular Assembly Plant (AMAP(TM)) parallel synthesis system to accelerate the identification and optimization of drug and product development candidates in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and agrochemical industries. ArQule is based in Medford, Massachusetts.
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are ''forward looking'' statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The actual results may differ from those projected in the forward looking statement due to risks and uncertainties that exist in the Company's operations and business environment, described more fully in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1996 and the Registration Statement of Form S-1 dated April 4, 1997, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE: ArQule, Inc.
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