RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., April 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Icoria
Inc. (Nasdaq: ICOR) today announced that it will use its metabolomics and gene
expression methodologies to characterize ADMET Technologies, Inc.'s human
adult hepatocytes, to improve their value as a predictive toxicology screening
tool in the early stages of drug development.
ADMET Technologies is a commercial supplier of primary human hepatocytes
for research purposes and is developing in vitro and in vivo tools for the
improvement of drug discovery and development. Icoria's research will enable
ADMET to customize its batches of cells to a customer's specific needs.
"Icoria's gene and metabolomic analyses will allow us to provide customers
with data on specific lots of cells and therefore a more valuable, fully
characterized product," said Mark Johnston, President of ADMET Technologies.
"By enabling more sensitive and specific predictive toxicology studies, we can
help our customers shorten drug development timelines and ensure that only the
most promising candidates make it to the clinics."
Under the agreement, ADMET will provide Icoria with liver cells from
patients with a diversity of clinical conditions such as fatty liver disease
and diabetes. Icoria will use its metabolomics, gene expression and pathway
analysis technologies to develop biological profiles and correlate these with
differing sensitivities to various classes of known hepatotoxic drugs. This
information will be used by ADMET to identify cells that could be used in
predictive toxicology assays that would enable pharmaceutical companies to
identify subtle or idiosyncratic liver toxicity at an early stage in the
development process. Icoria will retain rights to commercial development of
any novel diagnostic biomarkers that are discovered during this research.
"We are pleased to be working with ADMET Technologies on this important
project to improve drug development," said Thomas Colatsky, Ph.D., Vice
President of Healthcare Research. "We believe our research and analyses will
provide a rich source of novel biomarkers as well as new information about the
pathways associated with different hepatic disease states and individual
patient response to drugs. This could add substantial value to drug discovery
and development by the early elimination of potentially dangerous drugs."
Drug-induced liver injury remains one of the most common reasons why drugs
fail in development or are removed from the market post-approval. "One
pharmaceutical company estimates that clinical failures based on liver
toxicity alone have cost them more than $2 billion in the last decade,"
according to the FDA's March 2004 Critical Path white paper, "Challenge and
Opportunity on the Critical Path to New Medical Products."
About Icoria
Icoria, Inc. is a biotechnology company dedicated to finding new ways of
detecting and treating human disease. Icoria uses its ability to analyze
biological function at the level of gene expression, biochemical pathways and
tissue structure to discover and validate novel biomarkers, drugs and drug
targets. In addition to its internal drug discovery program, the company
provides services to clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech, agriculture,
academic and public health research sectors, and has major contracts with the
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 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 .
ADMET Technologies is a Research Triangle Park, NC based biotechnology
company developing cell-based tools for the improvement of in vitro and in
vivo assays for drug development.
This press release contains forward-looking statements including but not
limited to the Company's expectations for the potential outcomes of the
cooperative research agreement. 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 ability to identify biomarkers, 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, 2004, as 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.
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Related links:
http://www.icoria.com
CONTACT:
Media-Public Relations of Icoria, Inc.,
+1-919-425-2999; or Brian Ritchie or Mark Vincent, both of EURO
RSCG Life NRP, +1-212-845-4200
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