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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Henry Niman who wrote (23220)	7/14/1998 10:53:00 PM
From: bob zagorin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 32384

this seems on topic to me as LGND is involved in both small molecules and signalling. AXYS Pharmaceuticals And Signal Pharmaceuticals Enter Into Drug Discovery Collaboration SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO and SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)-- July 14, 1998-- Agreement Will Focus On Screening Axys' Small Molecule Library Against Cell Signaling Pathways Axys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: AXPH - news) and Signal Pharmaceuticals Inc. today announced they have entered into a collaboration for the accelerated discovery of compounds that interact with specific cell signaling pathways. Signal has developed proprietary assays for these signaling pathways which Signal will use to screen small molecules derived from Axys' Advanced Technologies division's compound libraries. The agreement provides that Axys will receive from Signal an upfront payment, as well as other payments upon the achievement of certain research and development milestones. The specific molecular targets and financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Bob Reed, Ph.D., vice president and general manager of Axys' Advanced Technologies division, stated, ''This screening collaboration will provide Signal with compound libraries and the option to augment the program with Axys' advanced chemistry capabilities. Axys' combinatorial chemistry program is focused on enabling its partners' medicinal chemistry efforts, and combines novel, highly diverse drug-like chemical libraries with the synthetic protocols to rapidly remake any individual compound or create new directed libraries around a partner's screening hits. We view this agreement with Signal as a material extension of our previous combinatorial chemistry deals with Pharmacia & Upjohn and Parke-Davis, and a creative format for Axys to use in collaborations with other biotech companies where there is clearly strength in biology and target identification.'' Alan Lewis, president and chief executive officer of Signal Pharmaceuticals, stated, ''The goal of this program is to combine Axys' drug-like chemical libraries with our integrated target and drug discovery capabilities in order to rapidly identify and optimize novel compounds that regulate gene expression in targeted pathways. We chose Axys as a partner because of their ability to generate highly diverse screening libraries and perform value-added medicinal chemistry on drug leads, which we believe will allow for rapid and efficient evolution of Signal's six drug discovery programs.'' Axys Pharmaceuticals is a leader in the integration of life science technologies with a focus on transforming gene discoveries into drugs. The company has research collaborations with world-class pharmaceutical companies, covering a broad range of therapeutic areas, including respiratory, cardiovascular, and infectious disease, as well as oncology and central nervous system disorders. Signal Pharmaceuticals is an integrated target and drug discovery company focused on identifying new classes of small molecule drugs that regulate genes and the production of disease-causing proteins. The Company applies advanced cellular, molecular and genomic technologies to map gene-regulating pathways in cells and to identify proprietary molecular targets that activate or deactivate genes and result in disease. Signal is advancing the application of genomics beyond identifying and elucidating the functions of genes to designing novel classes of disease-modifying drugs that selectively regulate the activation of disease-causing genes. The Company conducts its target and drug discovery programs both independently and with five pharmaceutical partners.