News - new, multi-target screening agreement with Schering AG.
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Tuesday October 27, 8:01 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Pharmacopeia Announces New Collaboration with Schering A.G.
PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharmacopeia, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCOP) today announced that it has signed a new, multi-target screening agreement with Schering AG, Germany.
Under the terms of this new agreement, Pharmacopeia will screen its multi-million compound sample collection of diverse, small molecules against multiple targets chosen by Schering AG. Chemical optimization of active compounds may be performed by either Pharmacopeia or Schering AG. In return, Schering AG will make payments to Pharmacopeia of up to $64 million, excluding royalties, over the next several years for research and development funding and milestones.
Pharmacopeia signed an agreement with Berlex Laboratories, Inc., an affiliate of Schering AG, in February, 1995. The collaboration, which focused on specific targets in the field of inflammation, had a potential value, excluding royalties, of approximately $19 million, some of which has already been received by the Company. In January, 1997, Berlex decided to pursue an in vivo evaluation of a candidate compound identified by Pharmacopeia and, as a result, made a milestone payment to Pharmacopeia. This compound is being pursued by Berlex and is moving towards formal clinical development. In August, 1998, Berlex provided Pharmacopeia with additional funding to pursue chemical optimization on additional lead compounds identified by Pharmacopeia.
"Our relationship with Schering AG and Berlex continues to be very rewarding," said Joseph A. Mollica, Ph.D., Pharmacopeia's Chairman, President and CEO. "Our original program resulted in the identification and optimization of a highly potent and specific small molecule potentially important in inflammation. In addition to this compound, which is progressing toward human clinical trials, a previous extension to our original program yielded a lead compound versus a second inflammation target. This second program is being pursued with additional separate funding from Berlex."
"Having achieved success with Berlex," continued Dr. Mollica, "we are excited to move on to a new agreement with Schering AG. This new relationship focuses on Pharmacopeia's skills and expertise in the area of high-throughput screening. With a potential dollar value of more than three times our original agreement, this new relationship demonstrates Schering AG's belief in our ability to integrate high-throughput screening with combinatorial chemistry and informatics to accelerate drug discovery. We appreciate Schering AG's support and look forward to yet another successful program."
Dale Stringfellow, President of Berlex Biosciences, the research division of Berlex Laboratories, Inc. noted, "Our collaboration with Pharmacopeia has been highly productive, and we expect that this extension will likewise provide Schering AG, Germany with additional novel product opportunities."
Pharmacopeia (http://www.pcop.com) is a leader in drug discovery integrating three platform technologies: informatics, small molecule combinatorial chemistry, and high-throughput screening. Through its subsidiary, Molecular Simulations Inc. (MSI), Pharmacopeia develops and commercializes molecular modeling, simulation, and informatics software and services. Using ECLiPS(TM), its proprietary combinatorial chemistry technology, Pharmacopeia has generated more than 4.2 million diverse, small molecules. Pharmacopeia tests these molecules using state-of-the-art high- throughput screening. These technologies are integrated to support the following four businesses: 1) software sales and service for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and chemical research, 2) chemical compound leasing, 3) collaborative drug discovery, and 4) internal drug discovery. Pharmacopeia employs approximately 550 people and is headquartered in Princeton, NJ. Major regional operations are in San Diego, CA, Cambridge, England, and Tokyo, Japan.
Except for the historical information contained herein, this statement may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the Company. The Company wishes to caution you that such statements are just predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. The Company refers to the documents that the Company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the Company's last filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. These documents contain and identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in these projections or forward-looking statements.
SOURCE: Pharmacopeia, Inc.
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