Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : Small Cap Foreign Biotech -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nigel bates who wrote (173)	3/7/2001 5:37:47 AM
From: nigel bates	Respond to of 363

ROYSTON, England, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharmagene plc (LSE: PGN) announced today that it has signed a drug discovery agreement with Bayer Corporation in the area of oncology. Financial terms were not disclosed. Under the terms of the agreement, Bayer will utilise Pharmagene's expertise in human tissue and gene expression data products to validate potential drug targets identified by Bayer. Specifically, Pharmagene will identify gene expression patterns across a matrix of diseased and non-diseased human tissue samples, constructed to depict nine cancer types of interest to Bayer for the purpose of characterising novel therapeutic proteins and antibody targets. The agreement will initially cover a defined number of targets but will be expandable. Bayer has been working with Pharmagene since October 1999. This new agreement represents a further application of Pharmagene's target validation capabilities across a new therapeutic area. A collaboration in the area of respiratory disease with Bayer plc (UK) was announced on 28 February 2001. ``Our relationship with Pharmagene is an important part of Bayer's efforts to make sense of the vast quantities of genomic information now available,'' commented Dr. Wolf-Dieter Busse, Bayer's Senior Vice President for Biotechnology. ``Pharmagene's technology and know-how reveals how genes are expressed in various human tissues, and helps us to pinpoint their relevance in diseases of interest, so enabling us to select potential drug targets with much greater confidence.'' Alastair Riddell, CEO of Pharmagene, commented, ``Bayer is a highly valued customer for Pharmagene, and we are delighted by their continued confidence in our ability to add value in their drug discovery programmes by using human tissue to pre-validate novel targets.'' Founded in 1996, Pharmagene is a human tissue-based business serving the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. It is dedicated to improving the efficiency of the drug discovery and development process. Pharmagene has three inter-dependent businesses, PhaseZERO(TM), Data Products (formerly known as Pharmabase) and Pharmagene Therapeutics. Further information on Pharmagene can be found at www.pharmagene.com ....