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Tuesday June 15, 4:36 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Aurora Biosciences Corporation
Aurora Biosciences Enters Into Five Year Technology Acquisition Agreement For Pharmaceutical R&D With Pfizer
SAN DIEGO, June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Aurora Biosciences Corporation (Nasdaq: ABSC - news) announced today that it has entered into an expansive five-year services, systems and technology access agreement for pharmaceutical discovery with Pfizer. Aurora will provide a team of Aurora scientists to pursue new biologies based on targets selected by Pfizer for drug discovery, compound profiling and genomics. The agreement provides Pfizer with access to Aurora's leading-edge and confidential drug discovery technologies which include a broad range of reporters, novel assay constructs, know-how and automated systems. Aurora will manufacture and install its automated master compound storage system, ultra-high throughput screening and multiple ion channel lead discovery platforms and development stations at Pfizer's research facilities worldwide. Pfizer will also receive broad, non-exclusive licenses to Aurora's confidential ultra-fast screening systems, and sensitive fluorescent sensors for detecting activity of cells or proteins.
The contracted payments to Aurora under this agreement amount to approximately $50 million during the five-year agreement. This amount could be increased if Pfizer exercises certain options to increase the size of the collaborative research team or acquire additional instruments or sub-systems. Aurora could also receive milestone or profit-share payments related to development or commercialization of compounds identified through use of assays developed in the collaborative research program.
Aurora will provide Pfizer with automated screening equipment and assay technology at Pfizer sites in the United States and abroad. ''Our goal is to provide the next generation of discovery services and technologies throughout the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. We are delighted that Pfizer, one of the world's leading research based companies, has chosen to acquire Aurora's pharmaceutical discovery technology for use on a world-wide basis across therapeutic areas,'' said Timothy J. Rink, M.D., Sc.D., Aurora's chairman and chief executive officer.
''The addition of Pfizer to our customer base reinforces Aurora's leadership position in supplying advanced service, system and technology solutions for discovery that will drive the pharmaceutical product pipeline in the next millennium,'' said Harry Stylli, Ph.D., M.B.A., Aurora's senior vice president, commercial development.
Aurora combines innovative biotechnology with its novel, high-technology automation and software to provide solutions to challenges in drug discovery for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The Company's core technologies include a broad portfolio of proprietary fluorescence assay technologies; its functional genomics GenomeScreen(TM) program; and systems to miniaturize and automate assays derived from those technologies within a computer-controlled integrated system, capable of searching through expansive libraries of compounds to identify those that might lead to new medicines. Aurora seeks to become a leader in providing services, technology and information that enhance and accelerate its customers' ability to discover new therapeutics through three main strategies: (1) providing customized drug discovery services, allowing the customer to outsource some part or all of its discovery needs, (2) developing and selling systems, instruments and technologies to augment the customer's own discovery efforts, and (3) licensing the Company's growing intellectual property portfolio. Current customers include Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Eli Lilly and Company, Warner-Lambert, Merck & Co., Inc., Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc., F. Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc., Becton-Dickinson, Cytovia, Inc. and Clontech Laboratories, Inc.
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are ''forward-looking'' statements which involve a high degree of risk and uncertainty. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding manufacture and delivery of systems under the terms of the agreement. Such statements are only predictions and the actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include commercial and development risks involved with the Company's new and uncertain technology, risks associated with the dependence on patents and proprietary rights, the ability to attract additional collaborative partners, dependence on existing pharmaceutical and biotechnology collaborations, and the development or availability of competing systems. These factors and others are more fully described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1998 and subsequent Forms 10-Q, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For additional corporate information, visit the Aurora website at aurorabio.com.
SOURCE: Aurora Biosciences Corporation |