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Biotech / Medical : Indications -- obesity/erectile dysfunction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Icebrg who wrote (105)	5/22/2003 5:48:56 AM
From: Icebrg	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 435

Biovitrum and GlaxoSmithKline to Focus Efforts on Developing Highly Selective 5-HT2c Receptor Agonists Thursday May 22, 5:38 am ET STOCKHOLM, Sweden, May 22, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Biovitrum AB today announced that Biovitrum and GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC:GLAXF) have jointly decided to focus their efforts on the development of highly selective 5-HT2c receptor agonist compounds for the treatment of obesity and other medical disorders. ``We have identified other substances in Biovitrum's collection of compounds that show a distinctly higher receptor selectivity,'' said Ken Batchelor, Metabolic and Viral Center of Excellence for Drug Discovery SVP at GSK. Recommendations from an expert panel of international obesity experts have highlighted selectivity as the key component of an optimal profile for this class of compounds. Recent research efforts have led to the discovery of compounds that are an order of magnitude more selective than current compounds in the clinic today. As a result, the ongoing three-month clinical Phase IIb patient study with a less selective compound in this class (BVT.933) will be truncated. This compound is one of the first in a line of 5-HT2C receptor agonists for the suppression of appetite that have been developed by Biovitrum and are being studied under the collaboration between the two companies to develop new therapies for obesity and other medical disorders. "The results from this study will provide valuable information that can assist in the development of a more selective 5-HT2C receptor agonist," commented Terje Kalland, CSO at Biovitrum. The current Phase IIb study of BVT.933 has proceeded smoothly showing the expected results and there have been no serious adverse events or unexpected findings. [Biovitrum is a spin-off/left-over from Pharmacia, who has basically abandoned us here in Sweden. The only thing they kept was the name]