SAN DIEGO, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(NASDAQ:AMLN) today announced that it has entered into a two-year agreement
with Systems Integration Drug Discovery Company, Inc. (SIDDCO) to support
Amylin's discovery of new drugs for the treatment of metabolic diseases.
Under the agreement, Amylin will have access to unique chemical libraries to
be synthesized by SIDDCO which Amylin plans to screen using its proprietary
metabolic assays. Amylin and SIDDCO may optimize compounds that Amylin
uncovers as having promising activity in its assays.
"This is the third screening agreement that Amylin has signed since August
1997, and is an important part of our growing business development strategy to
expand our product candidate pipeline," said Maurizio Denaro, M.D., Amylin's
Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer. "By using our unique
assays, combined with SIDDCO's chemical libraries, we are leveraging a decade
of our metabolic research in order to generate small molecule lead compounds
more efficiently."
Amylin has agreed to provide research support to SIDDCO as well as to pay
certain milestones and royalties as lead compounds from SIDDCO's chemical
libraries advance through clinical and commercial development. Amylin also
has the option of joining SIDDCO's combinatorial chemistry consortium at any
time within the next two years. Alternately, Amylin may extend the term of
the agreement by providing SIDDCO with agreed upon annual research funding.
SIDDCO of Tucson, AZ is a privately held company founded in late 1996 to
develop and apply state-of-the-art approaches to drug discovery.
Combinatorial chemistry and miniaturized high-throughput assay technologies
are integrated and applied in a comprehensive drug discovery program to
service the needs of SIDDCO and its industrial partners. SIDDCO's
combinatorial consortium currently consists of three members, including
SIDDCO, who collectively fund the development of combinatorial chemistry
technology which is licensed to each partner. Chemical libraries, validated
library technology, and automated methods may be used by consortium partners
on a non-exclusive basis. SIDDCO also provides a dedicated team of medicinal
chemists to each consortium partner pursuing the confidential design and
synthesis libraries for specific targets and the optimization of leads,
royalty-free, using SIDDCO's combinatorial chemistry expertise.
Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is focused on developing novel medicines for
treating metabolic disorders. The Company has pioneered research of the
hormone amylin, which is believed to play an important role in glucose control
and is missing or deficient in millions of people with diabetes. The Company
is collaborating with Johnson & Johnson to develop pramlintide, a synthetic
analog of human amylin, with the aim of improving metabolic control for people
with diabetes. Pramlintide administration has resulted in clinically relevant
improvement in glucose control and other indicators of metabolic control, such
as body weight and cholesterol profiles, during Phase II and initial Phase III
clinical testing when used in conjunction with insulin therapy in people with
diabetes. Four Phase III PARADIGM clinical studies are underway and are aimed
at further demonstrating pramlintide's ability to improve metabolic control,
thereby lowering the risk of degenerative complications. The Company has
expanded its research and development pipeline within the field of metabolic
disorders by starting several new preclinical programs, including validation
of exendin and GLP-1 for diabetes and obesity, the mono-di-tert-butylphenols
for dyslipidemia, and several new drug targets for obesity. Amylin
Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in San Diego, California.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed
herein, due to, among other things, the research, development, and market
risks which could adversely affect the Company's timeline for clinical trials,
regulatory approval, and if such approval is received, time to market
thereafter. Additional risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's
most recently filed SEC documents, such as its Form 10-K for the fiscal year
ended December 31, 1996 and its most recent Form 10-Q.
SOURCE Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
-0- 11/03/97
/CONTACT: Richard W. Krawiec, Ph.D., Director of Corporate Communications
for Amylin Pharmaceuticals, 619-552-2200, amylin.com; Pete
Reisinger, Vice President of Operations for SIDDCO, 520-663-4001,
reising@siddco.com/
/Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. press releases are available through Company
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