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Astellas' decision to begin screening triggers an undisclosed milestonepayment.
"Understanding insulin resistance is the key to developing the nextgeneration of therapies for type 2 diabetes, and Astellas' work with ourtargets has the possibility of making available new approaches to treatingthis large and growing disease," said Harold E. Van Wart, Ph.D., president andchief executive officer of Metabolex. "Our partnership with Astellascontinues to be fruitful, and we are pleased by this validation of Metabolex'sstrong research platform."
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Today's announcement is the latest milestone in the partnership betweenMetabolex and Astellas. The two companies initiated a research and drugdiscovery collaboration with the goal of identifying candidate compounds fromthe validated drug targets and advancing them into development for thetreatment of type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, impaired glucose toleranceand obesity. The companies have identified more than 10 targets during theircollaboration.
Metabolex is entitled to receive royalties on sales of any productemerging from the collaboration and retains co-promotion rights in North andSouth America.
About Metabolex
Metabolex is a privately held biotechnology company dedicated to thediscovery and development of novel therapeutics to transform the treatment ofdiabetes and related metabolic disorders. Metabolex has drawn on its deepunderstanding of diabetes to create the largest database of genes involved indiabetes and to build a rich pipeline of product candidates and drug discoverytargets. The company has three clinical-stage compounds: MBX-102/JNJ39659100, in Phase 2/3; MBX-2044, in Phase 2a; and MBX-8025, being studied indyslipidemia, which is expected to commence Phase 2 in the third quarter of2007. Ortho-McNeil, Inc. has the exclusive right to develop and commercializeMBX-102/JNJ 39659100 and MBX-2044. For additional information about Metabolexand its development pipeline, visit www.metabolex.com.
SOURCE Metabolex, Inc.
