Curis Licenses PYY Patents to Amylin Pharmaceuticals for the Treatment of Metabolic Diseases Including Obesity and Diabetes.Attention Business and Science Editors CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2002 Transaction valuation potentially $15 million plus royalties on future product sales Curis, 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 :CRIS) announced today an agreement to both license and selectively assign strategic patents covering the use of PYY PYY Peptide YY , a peptide made in the gut, to Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMLN) for the 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. treatment of metabolic diseases. Recent clinical research published earlier this year has demonstrated that administration of PYY to humans can suppress appetite and reduce food intake, suggesting that PYY may have therapeutic potential in the large and growing obesity market. The agreement provides Amylin to pay an up-front licensing fee and milestone cash payments based primarily upon obtaining regulatory approval and sales goals from Amylin Pharmaceuticals to Curis and a royalty on future product sales. The transaction payments excluding the product royalties may exceed $15 million. Amylin Pharmaceuticals will be responsible for development and clinical testing of the PYY compound. The agreement with Amylin covers a subset of Curis' PYY patent applications that relate to the use of PYY for the treatment of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Curis retains rights to other PYY patent applications that relate to the use of PYY to transform stem cells stem cells, unspecialized human or animal cells that can produce mature specialized body cells and at the same time replicate themselves. Embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocyst (the blastula typical of placental mammals; see embryo), which is very young into insulin-producing cells and other types of specialized cells. "Curis is very pleased to have completed this transaction with Amylin Pharmaceuticals because of Amylin's extensive experience in developing peptide hormones peptide hormones (pepˑ·tīd hōrˑ·mōnz), n.pl . Curis believes that Amylin provides one of the best environments to fully test the therapeutic potential of PYY," stated Daniel R. Passeri, Curis' President and Chief Executive Officer. "This transaction also illustrates the depth and diversity of Curis' research pipeline which, in addition to this PYY technology, also includes the BMP (1) (BitMaP) Also known as a "bump" file, it is the native, bitmapped graphics format in Windows. A BMP can be saved in several color options: 1-, 4-, 8- and 24-bit color provide 2, 16, 256 and 16,000,000 colors respectively. BMP files use the .BMP or . technology recently licensed to Ortho Biotech (for kidney and neurological disorders) and the Hedgehog small molecule agonist program with Elan Corporation (for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease Parkinson's disease or Parkinsonism, degenerative brain disorder first described by the English surgeon James Parkinson in 1817. When there is no known cause, the disease usually appears after age 40 and is referred to as Parkinson's disease. and other CNS See Continuous net settlement. CNS See continuous net settlement (CNS). disorders)." About Curis, Inc. Curis, Inc. is generating therapies that regulate the pathways used by the body to maintain and restore health. The company focuses on signaling pathways that govern the proliferation and differentiation of cells. These same pathways control maintenance, repair, and regeneration of tissues and organs from infancy through old age. This approach has created an approved product for bone regeneration and enables Curis to build a portfolio of product candidates in neurology, kidney disease Kidney Disease Definition Kidney disease is a general term for any damage that reduces the functioning of the kidney. Kidney disease is also called renal disease. , and cancer. For more information, please visit the Curis web site at www.curis.com. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and of 1995. Statements concerning Curis' or management's intentions, plans, expectations or predictions of future events are forward-looking statements. Such statements may contain the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "estimates" or similar expressions. Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Actual results can be affected by, among other things, uncertainties relating to product development, clinical trials, regulatory actions or delays, the ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection, changes in or an inability to execute Curis' realigned business strategy and other risk factors identified in Curis' most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Curis disclaims any intention or obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion