The News

The News

Cellzome Announces Achievement of First Milestone in Inflammation Alliance with GlaxoSmithKline

10/12/2008

Cambridge, United Kingdom and Heidelberg, Germany, 10th December 2008: Cellzome Inc. announced today that it has successfully achieved the first milestone in the strategic alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) established earlier this year, triggering payment of an undisclosed amount.

In September this year, Cellzome and GSK announced the signing of a worldwide strategic alliance to apply Cellzome’s drug discovery and development capabilities and its proprietary Kinobeads™ technology to identify, develop and market novel, kinase-targeted therapeutics to treat inflammatory diseases. GSK has exclusive options to license drug candidates from Cellzome’s kinase programs directed against seven targets. Cellzome will develop these programs to clinical proof of concept, unless GSK elects to exercise its option earlier, and Cellzome is eligible to receive success-based milestones from GSK as product candidates are advanced. The milestone announced today is the first of such payments under the agreement.
Tim Edwards, CEO of Cellzome, said: “We are making excellent progress on the programs optioned to GSK. The achievement of this first milestone so soon after the start of our collaboration is evidence of this and bears testimony to the power of our Kinobeads™ technology and the quality of our scientists. We look forward to continued success in this alliance.”


About the Alliance between Cellzome and GlaxoSmithKline
GSK has exclusive options to license drug candidates from Cellzome’s kinase programs directed against four identified targets, and three additional targets to be jointly identified by both parties. In the alliance, Cellzome will utilize its proprietary Kinobeads™ technology to discover novel small molecule inhibitors of these targets, and then will develop the most promising product candidates through to completion of a clinical proof of concept trial, unless GSK elects to exercise its option earlier. Cellzome is eligible to receive success-based milestones from GSK as product candidates are advanced. Upon Cellzome’s achievement of clinical proof of concept for a product candidate for a particular kinase target, GSK would have an exclusive option to license all product candidates from that program. GSK would then assume full responsibility for further clinical development and commercialization on a worldwide basis. Cellzome retains the right to continue the development and commercialization of drug candidates if GSK chooses not to exercise its option to that program.

About Cellzome Inc.
Cellzome is a privately-owned drug discovery company identifying a new generation of kinase-targeted drugs to treat inflammatory diseases. Its pipeline of small-molecule therapeutics is driven by Kinobeads™, a proprietary technology for studying simultaneously multiple kinases in their native state, in relevant cell types.
Cellzome is applying its distinctive Kinobeads™ technology to the discovery and development of novel, selective, small-molecule kinase inhibitors targeting key inflammatory mediators as potential oral therapeutics for rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis and asthma. In addition to its alliance with GSK, Cellzome has a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson focused on the discovery of novel medicines for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Cellzome's holding company is domiciled in the US and it employs about 90 people at its two operating subsidiaries in Cambridge, UK and Heidelberg, Germany. 

For more information please contact:
Cellzome:
Tim Edwards
Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +49 (0) 6221-137 57-100
press@cellzome.com
Media contact:
Hogarth Partnership
John Olsen/Melanie Toyne-Sewell
Tel: +44 (0) 207 357 9477
Visit website www.cellzome.com

2008

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