Thursday July 12, 1:47 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
Tularik Acquires Virtual Drug Screening Technology
from U.K.'s Protherics
Adding ``Virtual'' to Existing ``Physical'' High-Throughput Screening
Capabilities Is Expected to Boost the Number and Quality of Drug
Leads
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--July 12, 2001-- Tularik
(Nasdaq:TLRK - news) announced today that it acquired the computer-aided molecular
design (CAMD) unit of Protherics PLC, a U.K.-based company.
David V. Goeddel, Ph.D., Tularik's CEO, said the acquisition, which includes proprietary
virtual molecular screening software as well as a team of software designers, computational
chemists and medicinal chemists, promises to enhance Tularik's drug discovery efforts. ``We
will integrate Protherics' virtual screening capability with our own well established
high-throughput screening. This will help us boost both the number and quality of leads for
Tularik's proprietary targets--targets we have already validated as optimal points for
intervention in important disease pathways,'' Dr. Goeddel said.
The key technology of the Protherics' CAMD unit is a set of proprietary computational
software tools called Prometheus. These tools facilitate the identification of novel compounds
that bind with high affinity to the active site of cellular receptors or enzymes. The technology
also enables the rapid optimization of early drug leads by combining structural information
about drug targets with virtual screening information gleaned from compound libraries
designed around particular sets of chemical leads.
According to Juan Jaen, Ph.D., Tularik's Vice President, Chemistry, Tularik conducted a
comprehensive survey of CAMD software packages for virtual screening, and Prometheus
best fulfilled Tularik's needs. Prometheus has been applied with great success to the design of
inhibitors for various proteases involved in blood clot formation, allergy, and inflammation.
More broadly, Prometheus is applicable to any protein target for which 3-dimensional
structural information is available.
``Rapid, cost-effective identification and optimization of lead compounds is crucial in the drug
discovery process,'' said Dr. Jaen. ``What CAMD brings to Tularik is a very effective application of high-speed computational
methods to molecular design and screening.''
``At the same time, it's important to understand that virtual screening doesn't replace, but rather complements, `physical'
high-throughput screening,'' Dr. Jaen continued. ``What the software and high-speed computers enable us to do is select a
moderate number of potentially active compounds from existing commercial compound libraries or from Tularik's proprietary
virtual libraries. Through an iterative process, the technology then enables us to distinguish potent molecules from inactive or
less potent ones, with greater and greater levels of precision.''
``Just as important as identifying an early lead -- whether it is from standard high-throughput screening or computational
methods -- is the ability to quickly optimize the drug-like properties of the molecule,'' commented Nigel Walker, Ph.D.,
Tularik's Director, Structural Biology. ``The CAMD approach is uniquely suited to accomplish efficient optimization by making
full use of the range of information generated by Tularik's structural biology group.''
``Ultimately, of course, actual compounds need to be synthesized, tested, and optimized by our expert team of medicinal
chemists from both Tularik and the new CAMD group,'' Dr. Walker added. ``In short, it's the synergy and complementarity
between the `virtual' and the `physical' approaches that appeals to us and makes us look forward to the application of the
CAMD technology to our discovery efforts.''
Tularik is engaged in the discovery and development of a broad range of novel and superior orally available drugs that act
through the regulation of gene expression. Tularik programs address cancer, viral diseases, inflammation, immune disorders,
lipid disorders, diabetes and obesity. Tularik has established strategic partnerships with Japan Tobacco Inc., Roche Bioscience
and Knoll AG. For more information, visit Tularik's Internet website at www.tularik.com.
This press release contains ``forward-looking'' statements. For this purpose, any statements contained in this press release that
are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as ``believes,''
``anticipates,'' ``plans,'' ``expected,'' ``will,'' ``intend,'' ``promises,'' ``potential,'' ``hope'' and similar expressions are intended to
identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Tularik to differ
materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in
Tularik's SEC reports, including its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2001.
Contact:
Tularik Inc.
Andrew J. Perlman
Corinne H. Lyle, 650/825-7000
or
Connections Corporation (Media)
Michael A. Whitehouse, 650/740-1786
or
Stern Investor Relations (Investors)
Lilian Stern, 212/315-0145 |
