LA JOLLA, Calif., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(NASDAQ-NNM: AGPH) today announced its European subsidiary has submitted a
Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) to the European Medicines Evaluation
Agency (EMEA) for the anti-HIV drug VIRACEPT(R) (nelfinavir mesylate).  In
submitting the MAA, Agouron Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited seeks approval in
most major European countries of both tablet and pediatric oral powder
formulations of VIRACEPT based principally on results from three pivotal phase
II/III clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of the drug in more
than 700 HIV-infected subjects.  Action by the EMEA on the VIRACEPT MAA is
expected by Agouron later in calendar 1997.
    VIRACEPT, an inhibitor of HIV protease, is being developed by Agouron in
collaboration with the pharmaceutical division of Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT).  A
New Drug Application (NDA) for VIRACEPT was filed in the United States on
December 23, 1996.  F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd was granted marketing rights for
VIRACEPT in Europe and certain other markets by Agouron and JT last month.
    The VIRACEPT MAA was produced with a state-of-the-art regulatory
publishing system, Core Dossier, from ESPS Inc.
    Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a pioneer and leader in technologies
permitting the rational design of novel, small molecule drugs based upon the
molecular structures of proteins which play key roles in human disease.
Agouron is currently applying these technologies to the design and development
of novel drugs for treatment of cancer, AIDS, and other serious diseases.

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