May Lead to Development of More Effective, Less Toxic Fungicides
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Integrated
systems biology company Icoria, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICOR), announced today that it
has been granted U.S. Patent No. 6,852,484, "Methods for the Identification of
Inhibitors of Asparagine Synthase as Antibiotics," covering the discovery of a
novel gene target for antibiotic development in a biochemical pathway by which
fungi produce asparagine, a nutrient necessary for fungal growth. The patent
also covers methods enabling the discovery of chemicals that inhibit protein
target activities within this critical pathway. These methods potentially
increase the probability that fungicides could be found that affect this
pathway.
"Chemical compounds identified using this patented methodology may lead to
the development of new fungicides with low toxicity profiles," said Keith
Davis, Ph.D., Vice President, Agricultural Biotechnology. "Because of the
increasing rate of resistance to existing products, the development of new
fungicides represents a promising opportunity for Icoria."
Since 2001, Icoria has filed for patent protection on 37 fungicide gene
targets in more than 20 recognized biological pathways. "We are pleased to
have received patents on the first seven candidates," said Davis. "This
demonstrates the success of our TAG-KO(R) technology, which drives our
fungicide target discovery and development program."
"We believe the recent growth of our intellectual property portfolio
demonstrates the success of our approach to biomarker detection, target
discovery and pathway identification in both agriculture and healthcare," said
Heiri Gugger, Ph.D., President and CEO.
About Icoria
Icoria, Inc. is a biotech company dedicated to deciphering the complexity
of biological processes through the application of systems biology to identify
biomarkers for drug discovery and development, diagnostics and to develop
novel agrichemicals. Icoria has major contracts with the National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences, the Monsanto Company and Pioneer Hi-Bred
International (a subsidiary of DuPont). Icoria also has a major grant from
the National Institute of Standards & Technology's Advanced Technology
Program. For more information, visit http://www.icoria.com .
This press release contains forward-looking statements including but not
limited to the Company's expectations for its systems biology platform. Such
forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and
are subject to a number of risks, factors and uncertainties that may cause
actual results, events and performance to differ materially from those
referred to in the forward-looking statements. These risks, factors and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to Icoria's early stage of
development, history of net losses, technological and product development
uncertainties, reliance on research collaborations, uncertainty of additional
funding and ability to protect its patents and proprietary rights. Certain of
these and other risks are identified in Icoria's annual report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2003 and in its quarterly report on Form 10-Q
for the quarter ended September 30, 2004, each filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. The Company does not intend to update any of the
forward-looking statements after the date of this release to conform these
statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as may
be required by law.
SOURCE Icoria, Inc.
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.icoria.com
CONTACT:
Media, Public Relations of Icoria, Inc.,
+1-919-425-2999; or Brian Ritchie or Mark Vincent of EURO RSCG
Life NRP, +1-212-845-4200
|
