SAN DIEGO, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Trega Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRGA)
today announced the formation of a strategic relationship with
ChemNavigator.com, Inc., a privately held i-Research(TM) company founded to
supply chemistry and reagents to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural
and life science researchers. Trega's Chem.Folio(TM) chemical compounds will
occupy a substantial position on ChemNavigator.com(TM), providing a valuable
complement to Trega's existing distribution channels.
The ChemNavigator.com web site is a net-based commercial site that will
provide a new strategy for finding and purchasing research compounds and
reagents from sources around the world. Uniquely, ChemNavigator.com will
provide a powerful proprietary search engine to facilitate structure and
property-based searches of compound collections and libraries available on the
site. ChemNavigator.com will also contain links to other important databases
of relevant information. Pharmaceutical companies spend approximately
$21 billion a year for research and development, an estimated $2 billion of
which is spent for chemical synthesis and extraction. It is anticipated that
the ChemNavigator.com web site will be launched in the fourth quarter of 1999.
"This relationship represents a step in Trega's strategy of making our
research products available through e-commerce and for increasing the exposure
and sales of Chem.Folio compounds," said Michael G. Grey, president and chief
executive officer. "ChemNavigator.com may develop into the principal means of
distribution for our chemistry. We believe that ChemNavigator.com will
provide research scientists with superior search capabilities that will enable
them to identify a wide range of compounds to meet their needs."
"We are pleased to be able to offer Trega's high quality compounds to our
ChemNavigator i-Research System clients," said Scott Hutton, president of
ChemNavigator.com. "This collaboration with Trega is very complimentary to
our goal of providing ChemNavigator clients with access to the world's largest
collection of high quality drug-like compounds for life science research."
Trega has acquired 1,176,666 shares of the Series B Convertible Preferred
Stock of ChemNavigator.com, Inc. representing approximately 20% of the
outstanding equity securities of ChemNavigator.com, Inc. and a warrant to
purchase an additional 294,167 shares of ChemNavigator's Common Stock at a
purchase price of $5.00 per share. In exchange, Trega has paid $1.0 million
and issued 1.0 million shares of its Common Stock to ChemNavigator.com, Inc.
Trega will also issue a warrant to ChemNavigator.com to purchase an additional
294,167 shares of Trega Common Stock at a purchase price of $5.00 per share
upon the occurrence of certain events. At June 30, 1999, Trega had
outstanding 18,027,095 shares of Common Stock.
ChemNavigator.com will provide a revolutionary new strategy for finding
and purchasing research compounds and reagents from sources throughout the
world by combining the power of Internet search technology with proprietary,
industry leading computational analysis techniques. Initiated in January of
1999, ChemNavigator.com will facilitate global research, dubbed "i-Research,"
for chemical compounds and reagents.
Trega Biosciences is focused on accelerating the process of drug discovery
from disease targets to clinical candidates by using small molecule
combinatorial chemistry, high throughput screening and predictive
bioinformatics to rapidly create novel drug candidates having greater chances
of clinical success. Trega offers integrated products and services spanning
the drug discovery process -- beginning with synthesizing novel compounds to
providing uniquely qualified drug leads -- to the pharmaceutical and
biopharmaceutical industries. Trega also uses its drug discovery technologies
in its internal development programs, which are focused on discovering small
molecules acting on melanocortin receptors, which may be important in the
treatment of inflammatory and metabolic diseases.
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 a web site can be implemented in a
timely fashion, whether the site will perform as planned, whether the site
will generate sufficient revenues for ChemNavigator.com on the sale of Trega
compounds to be considered a success by either party, whether an extended
collaboration will be agreed to, the impact of competitive products and
pricing, 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. Actual results may differ
materially from those projected. Trega disclaims, however, any intent or
obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Trega's releases are on the World Wide Web at http://www.trega.com and
PR Newswire's fax-on-demand service at 800-758-5804, extension 374050.
SOURCE Trega Biosciences, Inc.
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Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/374050.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 374050
CONTACT:
Gerard A. Wills, V.P. of Finance & CFO of
Trega Biosciences, Inc., 858-410-6695; or Scott Hutton, President
of ChemNavigator.com, Inc., 858-450-9740, ext. 225
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