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Biotech / Medical : VGNX -- Variagenics, Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (146)	5/2/2002 9:11:22 AM
From: scaram(o)uche	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 269

Thursday May 2, 8:16 am Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: VARIAGENICS, INC. VARIAGENICS and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation to Collaborate on Pharmacogenomics Research Program for Prostate Cancer Therapeutics Pharmacogenomic Program Planned for Critical Disease Area CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--May 2, 2002-- VARIAGENICS, INC. (Nasdaq: VGNX - news), a leader in pharmacogenomics, today announced that it has entered into a pharmacogenomics collaboration agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation - a leading pharmaceuticals company - to study two Novartis compounds in clinical development for prostate cancer. One of the compounds is Gleevec(TM) and the other is PKI 166 which is an epidermal growth factor receptor antagonist in development for several indications. In this collaboration, VARIAGENICS will apply its integrated cancer pharmacogenomics platform to identify potential markers of drug efficacy for the two compounds. As part of this agreement, VARIAGENICS will provide an exclusive license to Novartis for any markers that are predictive of therapeutic response, while Variagenics will retain exclusive rights to develop any resulting DNA diagnostic tests. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. "Working with Novartis in an important disease area such as prostate cancer presents VARIAGENICS with a great opportunity to apply our pharmacogenomic technologies to help understand how to use new compounds in oncology," said Joseph S. (Jay) Mohr, President and Chief Business Officer of VARIAGENICS. "This collaboration also fits well with our strategic goal of focusing on pharmacogenomic and diagnostic opportunities in cancer. We believe that oncology represents the greatest near-term application area for pharmacogenomics, with the potential to impact drug development and patterns of drug use over the next several years. Ultimately, this type of research may help physicians prescribe the most appropriate therapeutic regimens for their patients." VARIAGENICS will apply its cancer-specific and statistical methodologies within two of Novartis' clinical development projects. Some elements of the research program include: (1) pathologic processing of tissue samples, including microdissection of tissue samples; (2) analysis of changes in DNA copy number (gain or loss of chromosomes); (3) and analysis of DNA mutations in tumor tissues. The application of these methods to the genes which mediate the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic behavior of Novartis' compounds is expected to result in an improved understanding of inter-patient variation in drug response. "Target identification based on a greater understanding of cancer cell genomics has been a mainstay of our Research and Discovery efforts at Novartis Oncology for some time," said David R. Parkinson, M.D., Global Head, Translational Development, Novartis Oncology. "Now we are moving forward to apply this knowledge in the early stages of clinical development as well. This project with VARIAGENICS is a significant step in that direction, and we hope that it will yield information useful in the further development of these two compounds." VARIAGENICS, INC. applies its pharmacogenomic technologies to the discovery, development and commercialization of personalized drugs and companion molecular diagnostic products. Using a targeted drug pathway approach, the Company identifies therapeutically important genetic markers, including SNPs, haplotypes and, for cancer studies, loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) and other related indicators. This information is then applied to clinical programs to enhance the success rates of drugs in development, and ultimately to the creation of diagnostics for predicting patient response to drugs. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.variagenics.com. This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the effect of pharmacogenomics on therapeutic outcomes and the delivery of healthcare and the role that the Company will play in the field of pharmacogenomics. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to certain factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, events and performance to differ materially from those referred to or implied in such statements. These risks are identified in VARIAGENICS' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001. The Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as required by law. Gleevec(TM) is a trademark of Novartis. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: VARIAGENICS, INC. Beverly Holley Investor Relations 617/588-5318 bholley@variagenics.com or Paul Kidwell Media Relations 617/588-5340 pkidwell@variagenics.com