ROCHE GAINS GLOBAL ACCESS TO
ALANEX PROPRIETARY COMBINATORIAL LIBRARIES
SAN DIEGO, Calif./ PALO ALTO, Calif. , May 6, 1997 -- Alanex Corporation and Roche Bioscience announced today a three-year agreement under which Alanex will provide compounds from its exploratory libraries on a nonexclusive basis to all five Roche global pharmaceutical research organizations. Alanex exploratory libraries are comprised of individual small molecules with drug-like structures. Alanex uses its Cheminformatics software to select compounds from its virtual library of more than 10 billion compounds for synthesis and incorporation into its exploratory libraries, which are then screened in biological assays of interest.
Under the terms of the agreement, Roche has the right to exclusively license leads that arise from the use of the Alanex screening libraries. In return, Alanex receives an upfront technology access fee and annual research support. The agreement also provides for milestone and royalty payments to Alanex. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Roche Bioscience is located in Palo Alto, Calif.; the other four Roche research locations that have the option to access Alanex compounds for screening are in Basel, Switzerland; Kamakura, Japan; Nutley, N. J. and Welwyn, England. In July 1996, Alanex and Roche Bioscience announced the formation of a three-year collaboration to discover novel small molecule drugs in the area of pain. Alanex received its first milestone payment from Roche Bioscience under the collaboration in February. That collaboration is not affected by the agreement announced today.
"This is the largest combinatorial chemistry agreement Alanex has signed to date," said Marvin R. Brown, M.D., chairman, chief executive office and president of Alanex. "It allows us to increase molecular targets, maximizing the probability of the successful identification of leads for further development. We are pleased to enter into this relationship with Roche, which is one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the industry."
"At Roche Bioscience, we were impressed with our early success in our existing alliance with Alanex," said Roger Whiting, Ph.D., senior vice president and head of the Roche Bioscience Neurobiology Business Unit. "We are pleased that this agreement provides Roche Bioscience as well as the entire global Roche research organization with the ability to use the large, diverse Alanex libraries in our exploratory drug discovery programs."
Alanex Corporation, based in San Diego, Calif., is a privately held drug discovery company whose mission is to identify small molecule drugs using its proprietary drug discovery technologies. Alanex has developed and integrated its Cheminformatics system, with combinatorial chemistry and high throughput screening. This combined approach is designed to significantly shorten the time required to find lead compounds and optimize them into viable drug candidates. Alanex has formed strategic collaborations with Astra Pharma Inc., Novo Nordisk A/S, Roche Bioscience, ICOS Corporation and Aurora Biosciences Corporation.
Roche Bioscience is a research-based, product-focused organization dedicated to the discovery and early clinical development of innovative prescription drugs. Roche Bioscience is a member of the Roche Group, which has headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.
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