CombiChem Announces Agrochemical Discovery Collaboration with Novartis Crop Protection.SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--May 27, 1998--CombiChem Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :CCHM CCHM Century Campus Housing Management CCHM Cherokee County Historical Museum CCHM CombiChem Inc (stock symbol) CCHM Centre Culturel Haut-Marnais (French) CCHM Certificate in Chinese Herbal Medicine ) today announced the signing of a discovery collaboration with Novartis Crop Protection AG, Basel, Switzerland, for the herbicide herbicide (hr`bəsīd'), chemical compound that kills plants or inhibits their normal growth. A herbicide in a particular formulation and application can be described as selective or nonselective. , fungicide fungicide (fŭn`jəsīd', fŭng`gə–), any substance used to destroy fungi. Some fungi are extremely damaging to crops (see diseases of plants), and others cause diseases in humans and other animals (see fungal infection). and insecticide markets. Under the terms of the collaboration, CombiChem will receive a project initiation fee, research support and milestone payments. Novartis Crop Protection has exclusive global rights to develop and market or sub-license products resulting from the collaboration. CombiChem will be entitled to royalties on sales of products resulting from the collaboration. CombiChem will utilize its Discovery Engine(TM) to generate compounds for in vivo in vivo /in vi·vo/ (ve´vo) [L.] within the living body. in vi·vo adj. Within a living organism. in vivo adv. testing in whole organisms (plants, insects and fungi). CombiChem's Discovery Engine is at the core of every lead optimization, evolution and generation collaboration. The Discovery Engine uses an iterative approach in discovery projects, combining the company's proprietary software for hypothesis generation, its structurally novel computer-based Virtual Library, and its rapid syntheses capability. "This collaboration with Novartis, the global leader in crop protection, marks CombiChem's entry into the agrochemical agrochemical Any chemical used in agriculture, including chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides. Most are mixtures of two or more chemicals; active ingredients provide the desired effects, and inert ingredients stabilize or preserve the active ingredients or aid field, emphasizing the broad applicability of our Discovery Engine beyond pharmaceuticals and biotechnology," stated Vicente Anido, Jr., Ph.D., CombiChem's president and chief executive officer. "We have selected CombiChem for this collaboration because of its unique design and rapid synthesis capability. Their technologies complement our internal efforts to optimize the properties of interesting compounds discovered in our screening. Thus, we increase our chances to provide farmers and growers with completely new types of crop protection products," stated Robert Nyfeler, Ph.D., Head of R&D of Novartis Crop Protection. CombiChem Inc., based in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. , is a computational drug discovery company that is applying its proprietary design technology and rapid synthesis capabilities to accelerate the discovery process for new drugs. The company believes its approach offers pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agrochemical companies the opportunity to conduct their discovery efforts in a more productive and cost effective manner. Using its proprietary Discovery Engine process, the company focuses on the generation, evolution and optimization of new lead candidates for its collaborative partners, who will then develop, manufacture, market and sell the resulting products. In addition to the collaboration with Novartis, CombiChem has established collaborative agreements with Athena Neuroscience Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Elan Corp., plc., ICOS Corp., ImClone Systems ImClone Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: IMCL) is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing biologic medicines in the area of oncology. It was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in New York City. It is traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol IMCL. Inc., Roche Bioscience, Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., and Teijin Limited. Novartis Crop Protection is a business sector of Novartis, a world leader in Life Sciences with core businesses in Healthcare, Agribusiness and Nutrition. In 1997, Novartis Group sales Group sales Block sale (of large amounts) of securities to institutional investors. group sales The distribution of a new security issue to institutional clients. were 31.2 billion Swiss francs, of which 18.8 billion were in Healthcare, 8.3 billion in Agribusiness and 4.1 billion in Nutrition. The group annually invests more than 3.6 billion Swiss francs in R&D. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis employs about 87,000 people and operates in over 100 countries around the world. -0- Except for the historical and financial information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties, including a dependence on the efforts of third parties, a new and uncertain technology employed by CombiChem, dependence on intellectual property rights, the competitive nature of the company's industry and risks of obsolescence ob·so·les·cent adj. 1. Being in the process of passing out of use or usefulness; becoming obsolete. 2. Biology Gradually disappearing; imperfectly or only slightly developed. of certain technology. Actual results may differ materially from those projected. Forward-looking statements represent the judgment of the company as of the date of this release. CombiChem disclaims, however, any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements. CONTACT: CombiChem Inc. Vince Anido Jr., Karin Eastham, 619/530-0484 or Burns McClellan Inc. Lisa Burns, 212/213-0006 |
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