Phytera and Gemin X Sign Cancer Drug Discovery Collaboration
Worcester, MA and Montreal, QC — May 15, 2001 — Phytera, Inc. (Phytera) and Gemin X Biotechnologies Inc. (Gemin X) announced today that they have entered into a research collaboration agreement to discover novel agents for the treatment of cancer and other proliferative diseases in humans. Under the terms of the agreement, Phytera will receive an up-front technology access fee, funding for research activities, and may receive milestone payments and royalties as products derived from the collaboration are commercialized. Gemin X receives worldwide rights, with the right to sublicense, develop and market such products.
As part of the collaboration, Phytera will provide ExPAND© plant cell culture extracts and uMARINEâ© marine microorganism extracts for screening in Gemin X's proprietary apoptosis assay systems. Phytera will also provide its natural product chemistry expertise for the isolation and structural characterization of its proprietary active extracts. Gemin X will be responsible for downstream profiling, lead optimization, development and commercialization.
"This collaboration reflects Phytera's continued strategic commitment to create multiple opportunities to apply our unique library of chemically-diverse natural product extracts with novel and proprietary screening systems," said Malcolm Morville, Ph.D., President and CEO of Phytera. "We are very pleased to be collaborating with Gemin X in an alliance that will capitalize on the strength of each company's discovery technology in an effort to discover novel cancer therapeutics." He added that this is Phytera's tenth discovery alliance.
"Natural product extracts, historically a proven source of drugs and drug leads, will provide Gemin X with a rich source of compounds to search for new chemical leads," said Dan Giampuzzi, President and CEO of Gemin X. "As we continue to develop new assays, our largest challenge becomes gaining access to the most promising source and broadest spectrum of chemical diversity. Because Phytera's ExPAND© and uMARINE© extract libraries offer us this solution, we are looking forward to this collaboration and the prospects it can offer."
Phytera is a world leader in applying the chemical and genetic diversity of natural species to discover and develop new pharmaceutical products for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Phytera has a number of novel products in its development pipeline, including one potential cancer drug in Phase I/II human clinical trials in the United States and several anti-infective agents undergoing pre-clinical study. Phytera has also built a highly productive and unique drug discovery engine based upon the application of its proprietary technology platform to the mining of natural chemical and genetic diversity found in plants and marine microorganisms. Phytera has leveraged its technology platform to build the company through the use of corporate collaborations targeting a range of pharmaceutical indications as well as agricultural, nutraceutical and cosmetic applications. Phytera has partnered with Eli Lilly and Company, Chiron Corporation, Lynx Therapeutics, Inc., Unilever Research U.S., NeuroSearch A/S, Galileo Laboratories, Inc., Novelos Therapeutics, Inc., Tsumura & Co., and Nycomed Amersham plc.
Gemin X Biotechnologies Inc. specializes in the discovery and development of novel cancer therapeutics. The company's expertise is in apoptosis, or harnessing the body's natural defense against injured or damaged cells. Using its proprietary discovery platform, Gemin X has identified a family of small molecules that effectively inhibit the Bcl-2 protein, a validated drug target implicated in B cell lymphoma, breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancer. Additionally, the company has programs dedicated to the identification of novel cancer targets and therapeutics; discovering small molecules that promote apoptosis in cells infected with latent viruses; and finding compounds that act against p53 independent chemo-resistant cancers. Gemin X, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, was founded in 1997, and employs approximately 30 people.
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