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Biotech / Medical : New Brunswick Scientific Co., Inc. (NBSC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (365)	1/8/2002 12:15:26 PM
From: nigel bates	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 724

DGI BioTechnologies and Novo Nordisk Collaborate For The Discovery of Anticancer Agents EDISON, N.J., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- DGI BioTechnologies, Inc. today announced that it has signed a two-year licensing and research agreement with Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE: NVO - news), for the research and discovery of IGF-related antagonists for the treatment of cancer. Under terms of the agreement, DGI becomes an equal research partner for in vitro and in vivo testing. Novo Nordisk will obtain exclusive rights to IGF antagonists, while DGI will maintain rights to IGF agonists that are discovered as a result of the collaboration. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. IGF, or insulin-like growth factor, is a natural growth promoting entity, the blockage of whose action has attracted attention as a potential anti-cancer therapy for the treatment of many solid tumors. An increasing body of epidemiologic data links elevated serum IGF levels with the risk of a number of different cancers including prostate, colorectal, breast, and lung. While the actions of IGF are complex, it is becoming clear that this system may mediate the effect of a number of well-established cancer risk factors. The agreement provides access for Novo Nordisk to DGI's proprietary drug discovery platform technology, Phenogenix®. DGI's platform uses large, complex peptides referred to as Surrogates to dissect the critical interaction and components of a target-ligand complex. The Surrogate peptides are versatile in that they serve initially as tools for target validation where successful manipulation of the targeted gene/gene product activity, such as the IGF-receptor, is therapeutically beneficial for the disease under investigation. Moreover they can then be used as novel peptidomimetic drug candidates. In addition, the current agreement with Novo Nordisk covers the use of DGI's complementary discovery platform, Diogenesis® to identify orally available IGF-antagonizing small molecules drug candidates. ``This agreement marks an important milestone for DGI as this second partnership between Novo Nordisk and DGI is in a completely different therapeutic area. We believe that it demonstrates the depth and breadth of the DGI discovery platform,'' said Dr. Arthur Blume, President and CEO of DGI BioTechnologies. ``Since Novo Nordisk is a recognized world leader in insulin/diabetes care, they are a great partner for research on the closely related insulin-like growth factor, IGF. We look forward to advancing Novo Nordisk's drug discovery efforts as well as demonstrating the powerful capability of DGI's technology platform in the area of IGF agonists in acute ischemic stroke.'' Professor Jesper Zeuthen, Managing Director of the BankInvest Biomedical Venture Funds, Copenhagen, Denmark, commented, ``We are delighted with the announcement of this second collaboration of DGI with Novo Nordisk since it combines Novo Nordisk's strength in peptide hormone drugs with DGI's valuable technology for target validation and drug discovery.'' Novo Nordisk A/S is a focused healthcare company and the world leader in diabetes care. In addition, Novo Nordisk manufactures and markets a variety of other pharmaceutical products. With headquarters in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approximately 16,000 people in 68 countries and markets its products in 179 countries. Its B shares are listed on the stock exchanges in Copenhagen and London. Its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ``NVO''. For further company information visit novonordisk.com. DGI BioTechnologies, Inc. is a privately-held company focused on the identification and control of protein:protein interactions underlying both known and novel disease targets in order to find drug leads for license to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. DGI has expertise in the fields of proteomics, molecular immunology, biology and pharmacology, high throughput screening and bioinformatics. DGI is translating its technology platform into a discovery continuum using its new post-genomic application of Phenogenix® for target discovery and validation together with Diogenesis, its proprietary small molecule drug discovery program to identify novel drug candidates...