Waiting for H and Q updates, V1. Here's more from COCN:
>>Tuesday January 13, 9:02 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: CoCensys, Inc.
CoCensys Board Approves Formation of New Company As Spin Off to Pursue Novel Drug Screening Technology
Cytovia, Inc. to Focus on 'Patented High Throughput Screening Technology in Apoptosis'
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 13 /PR Newswire/ -- CoCensys, Inc. (Nasdaq: COCN - news) announced that its Board of Directors has approved, as a spin off, the formation of a new company, Cytovia, Inc. The new company will focus on the commercialization of a patented drug screening technology, using living cells, in the area of apoptosis or programmed cell death. The Board also announced the appointment of CoCensys' Board member and head of research and drug discovery, Eckard Weber, M.D., as president and chief executive officer of Cytovia.
CoCensys Remains Focused on Neurosciences
F. Richard Nichol, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of CoCensys, said the decision to spin off the new company was driven by broad applications of the patented drug screening technology in cancer and other diseases outside CoCensys' focus on therapeutics for disorders of the central nervous system.
''While the new technology is exceptionally promising, the Board determined that it was in the shareholders' best interest to create an independent company that could focus its efforts on developing this technology,'' said Dr. Nichol. ''This strategy will allow CoCensys to continue to apply its resources toward discovery and development of its primary CNS compounds such as ganaxolone, which has shown promise in the most recent Phase II trials as a possible treatment for epilepsy and migraine.''
''Recent research has uncovered the molecular mechanisms which cause human cells to undergo programmed cell death or apoptosis. Programmed cell death mechanisms often malfunction. For example, in degenerative diseases, the cellular apoptosis is excessively or inappropriately activated. In cancers, the cellular apoptotic mechanism does not function properly,'' said Dr. Weber.
The apoptotic signal transduction pathway involves approximately one dozen or more related enzymes called caspases. Dr. Weber added, ''With Cytovia's patented CytoCasp(TM) drug screening technology, we can screen for novel drugs that inhibit or activate the caspase cascade in living cells from any organ system or from any cancerous tumor. This new drug screening technology allows us for the first time to screen for cell-type specific inhibitors or enhancers of the caspase cascade.''
Cytovia's CytoCasp(TM) screening technology is based in part on patented technology Cytovia is licensing from OncoImmunin, Inc. of College Park, Maryland. Dr. Weber said, ''This technology opens the door to the discovery of entirely new classes of drugs for treating a wide range of diseases, especially cancer, but also myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, viral infections, organ failure, rheumatoid arthritis, stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, etc. Moreover, the technology may be useful in predicting which anti-cancer drugs will prove to be most efficient in treating cancers in individual patients.''
CoCensys to Retain Stake
CoCensys will retain a substantial equity stake in Cytovia, and will receive a seat on the Cytovia Board of Directors, to be held by Dr. Nichol. For four years, CoCensys also will retain the right to enter into contracts with Cytovia to screen CoCensys' neuroscience-related therapeutic drug products, and it will have a right of first refusal for developing any compound Cytovia discovers for neuroscience-related disease applications.
Dr. Weber and nine other current employees of CoCensys will join Cytovia. John Guastella, Ph.D., CoCensys' associate director of molecular biology, will become Cytovia's senior director of biology. ''Most of the staff joining Cytovia have been working at CoCensys on projects related to the CytoCasp(TM) screening technology,'' said Dr. Weber.
Two CoCensys executives will assume Dr. Weber's responsibilities at CoCensys. They are Richard Woodward, Ph.D., Senior Director, Research and Drug Discovery, and Joann L. Data, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Product Development and Regulatory Affairs, who adds pre-clinical product development to her existing responsibilities of heading clinical research and regulatory affairs.
CoCensys will provide short-term loans for the initial start-up of Cytovia, Dr. Nichol said. Longer term funding is expected to come from venture capital in the first quarter of 1998, and from corporate partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Weber, a pioneering researcher, retains his seat on CoCensys Board of Directors. He also will remain as a leader and advisor to CoCensys for selected scientific development projects.
Before becoming President and CEO of Cytovia, Dr. Weber was Senior Vice President of Research and Drug Discovery at CoCensys. Prior to joining CoCensys, Dr. Weber was co-founder and general manager of Acea Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a start-up biopharmaceutical company that CoCensys acquired in 1994.
Until 1995, Dr. Weber also was a professor of pharmacology at UC-Irvine. He has more than 20 years experience in drug discovery and development, and is the holder of more than 30 patents and patent applications. He also has published more than 100 papers in scientific periodicals.
The forward-looking statements contained above involve a high degree of technological, regulatory and competitive risks and uncertainties inherent to biopharmaceutical companies. Actual results may differ due to a number of factors, which are more fully discussed in the company's most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q.
CoCensys is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops products to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. The company's product development programs focus on novel, small molecule compounds for the treatment of migraine, epilepsy, anxiety, insomnia, stroke, Parkinson's, neurodegenerative diseases, and neuropathic pain. More information about the company is available on its website: cocensys.com. << |
