LA JOLLA, Calif., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(Nasdaq NNM: AGPH) today announced an agreement with the University of
Newcastle Upon Tyne (Newcastle) and Cancer Research Campaign Technology (CRCT)
in England under which the organizations will collaborate to discover and
develop a new class of anti-cancer drugs.  Under the agreement, CRCT has
licensed Agouron patented prototype inhibitors of the enzyme poly ADP-ribose
polymerase (PARP) discovered by the Anti-cancer Drug Discovery Initiative
(ADDI) at Newcastle.  PARP has been shown to play a key role in the ability of
certain human cancers to evade currently available anti-tumor drugs.  Agouron
will support further research at Newcastle, contribute expertise in the
structure of PARP, and will engage in the optimization and development of PARP
inhibitors.  The goal of the collaboration is to generate drugs capable of
enhancing the effectiveness of certain chemotherapy agents and of radiation
therapy in the treatment of tumors characterized by mutated p53, one of the
most common genetic abnormalities seen in human tumors.
    PARP is a multifunctional nuclear enzyme that, when activated by the kind
of DNA damage produced by certain chemotherapy drugs or by radiation therapy,
coordinates several functions involved in reversing such DNA damage and
sparing cancer cells the maximum effects of these therapies.  In preclinical
experiments, scientists have recently shown that inhibition of PARP helps
direct tumor cells with mutated p53 to proceed into apoptosis -- the
programmed cell death by which cells with drug or radiation-induced DNA damage
die.  "With PARP inhibitors, we think we can lower the threshold to apoptosis
and enhance the effectiveness of both chemotherapy agents and of
radiotherapy," said Michael Varney, Ph.D., Agouron's vice president and head
of research.  "Because of the pioneering research and drug discovery efforts
in this field by the Newcastle group and the complementarity of our technical
approaches, we think it should be possible to bring a PARP inhibitor into
development in less than two years."
    ADDI is a collaboration between the Cancer Research Unit and the chemistry
department at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne which is a major academic
and medical center in the northeast of England.  ADDI is substantially
sponsored by the North of England Cancer Research Campaign (NECRC), a British
non-profit charity.  Successful commercialization by Agouron of qualifying
PARP inhibitors will result in the payment of milestones and royalties to
CRCT.
    CRCT is a specialist oncology technology transfer company which
commercializes intellectual property by the Cancer Research Campaign and
NECRC.
    Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an integrated pharmaceutical company
committed to discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of small-
molecule drugs engineered to inactivate proteins which play key roles in
cancer, AIDS, and other serious diseases.

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