Roche Receives a Worldwide Multi-Year License for the iDEA(TM)
Predictive ADME Simulation System for Absorption and Metabolism
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Trega Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRGA),
a company focused on commercializing technologies and products for
accelerating drug discovery and development, today announced that Roche, based
in Basel, Switzerland, has licensed two modules of the iDEA(TM) Predictive
ADME Simulation System for use in its drug discovery activities. Under the
terms of the agreement, Roche expands to a three-year global license from
their initial license to the absorption module granted earlier this year. The
new license agreement also includes access to the iDEA(TM) metabolism module,
as well as product updates for the life of the license. Financial terms were
not disclosed.
"The success of our initial relationship with Trega and our joint work to
confirm the ability of the absorption module to predict the extent of
absorption in humans of various compounds led us to expand and lengthen our
agreement," said Dr. Nigel Rogers, a representative of the global Roche
Multi-dimensional Optimization initiative. "The absorption module will be
used in our lead optimization programs as part of a decision process to
evaluate candidates as we move through the discovery process. We look forward
to also evaluating the new metabolism module."
"This agreement illustrates a growing acceptance of Trega's methods for in
silico drug discovery and development. As pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies strive to shorten the drug development timeline, reliance on
non-scalable, less predictive and expensive animal modeling can be augmented
by faster, more predictive computational methods," said Mark W. Schwartz,
Ph.D. vice president of commercial operations and chief commercial officer of
Trega. "Through the expansion of our working relationship with Roche, we are
able to further validate the predictive capability of the iDEA(TM) models and
their utility in advancing drug discovery and development programs."
The iDEA(TM) Predictive ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism,
excretion) Simulation System for drug absorption is an efficient, validated
and highly predictive in silico solution developed in conjunction with five
prominent pharmaceutical companies. The absorption module was constructed to
simulate the physiological process of drug absorption, and incorporates human
physiological parameters. The model is trained with a proprietary database of
in vitro and human in vivo pharmacokinetic data for selected drugs and drug
candidates, including many that failed in the development process. This
training set of compounds is unique in that it represents a very diverse set
of drug properties. Trega plans to complete a metabolism model at the
beginning of this year and subsequently develop additional models that will
enable the complete prediction of bioavailability.
As recently announced, Trega Biosciences, Inc. has signed an agreement
with LION bioscience, AG in which LION will acquire 100% of the equity of
Trega in exchange for LION American Depositary Shares. LION and Trega will
combine complementary technologies and products, which are expected to
significantly enhance LION's position as a leading provider of comprehensive
solutions for enterprise-wide data integration, data analysis and information
management solutions for the Life Sciences industry. This transaction is
expected to close in March or April of 2001.
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading
research-oriented healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals,
diagnostics and vitamins. Roche's innovative products and services address
needs for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, thus enhancing
people's well-being and quality of life. Roche has approximately
63,900 employees and sells its products in over 170 countries. The Roche
Group posted sales of 20.3 billion Swiss francs in the first nine months of
2000. In the first half of 2000 the company's net income amounted to
3 billion Swiss francs. It invested 1.9 billion Swiss francs in research and
development.
Trega Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRGA) is a premier provider of products
that accelerate and improve drug discovery through its iDiscovery(TM)
technologies linking biology and chemistry with information technologies.
Trega's iDEA(TM) family of information-based models simulate, in silico, how
drug candidates will be processed in the body, thereby enabling selection of
those with optimal characteristics for clinical development. Together with
its iDEA(TM) products, Trega's ChemFolio(R) libraries of information-enhanced
small molecules are designed to facilitate the identification and optimization
of drug candidates. For additional information on Trega, please visit our Web
site at http://www.trega.com.
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters
discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties, including whether these transactions will be
completed, whether any additional licenses, alliances or other transactions
will be agreed to, formed or expanded, whether any such transactions will be
successful, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the successful
development, release, and commercialization of additional software modules and
the timing of such events, whether the requisite approval of Trega
Stockholders will be received in connection to the proposed acquisition of
Trega by LION, and other risks detailed from time to time in Trega's
Securities and Exchange Commission filings. These forward-looking statements
represent Trega's judgment as of the date of this release. Trega disclaims,
however, any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
SOURCE Trega Biosciences, Inc.
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http://www.trega.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/374050.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 374050
CONTACT:
Gerard A. Wills, Vice President, Finance &
CFO, 858-410-6695, or Cynthia Reindal, Corp. Communications &
Investor Relations, 858-410-6601, both of Trega Biosciences, Inc.
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