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For Immediate Release, April 19, 2001 Aurora
Biosciences And Integrative Proteomics SAN DIEGO, California and TORONTO, Canada (April 19, 2001) – Aurora Biosciences Corporation (Nasdaq: ABSC) and Integrative Proteomics™ , Inc. ("IPI") today announced that they have entered into a strategic alliance and license agreement for Auroraís high-throughput drug discovery capabilities based on Auroraís Big Biology™ and chemistry platforms to generate a set of approximately three and one-half million data points using IPI targets at Auroraís discovery facility over two years. Under the terms of the agreement, Aurora has agreed to deploy its high-throughput Big Biology platform to rapidly generate biochemical and cell-based assays to screen IPI targets for IPIís structure-guided discovery programs. IPI will license Auroraís leading discovery technologies for pharmaceutical applications and will make an upfront technology access fee, license fees and annual research support payments to Aurora. Aurora will also capture downstream revenues from certain pharmaceutical products that may result from the use of Auroraís compounds and screens in the collaboration. In addition, Aurora will make a strategic equity investment in IPIís next equity financing. Financial details were not disclosed. IPI will expand its integrated, multidisciplinary Pharmaceutical Proteomics™ Platform via its discovery alliance with Aurora. Under the terms of the alliance announced today, IPI will gain access to Auroraís proprietary collection of over 500,000 compounds through Auroraís screening of IPI targets. In addition, IPI will license a suite of Auroraís advanced, proprietary discovery technologies, including GFP functional genomic technologies and reporter systems for target-centric discovery for important classes of pharmaceutical targets, including kinases, phosphatases, proteases, nuclear receptors and GPCRs, as well as Auroraís Vivid™; fluorogenic substrates for ADME/Tox applications. The alliance also includes a collaboration on new protein-protein interaction technologies based on Auroraís leading reporter systems. IPI will collaborate with Aurora to determine structures of targets being pursued in Auroraís Big Biology™; initiative. "We are very impressed with Integrative Proteomicsí ability to link the function of proteins with their high throughput 3D structure determination process in a drug discovery context. We are excited about the opportunity to work with IPI and to apply our Big Biology platform to IPIís targets," stated Stuart J.M. Collinson, Ph.D., Auroraís chairman, chief executive officer and president. "The IPI alliance advances Auroraís continuing objective to expand its internal drug discovery capabilities through strategic collaborations with technology-rich biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies." "Auroraís Big Biology platform leads the industry in the capacity and efficiency it can bring to the discovery process and adds significant value to IPIís growing estate of discovery technologies for high-throughput interrogation of target function and structure," stated John D. Mendlein, Ph.D., Integrative Proteomicsí chairman and chief executive officer. "Auroraís drug discovery strengths and compound collections will rapidly jump-start our internal discovery efforts using IPI targets. We also welcome Auroraís future investment in IPI, and look forward to using the results of this alliance in our structure-guided discovery programs." Integrative Proteomics™ ("IPI") accelerates the discovery of new medicines using its Pharmaceutical Proteomics™ Platform. Using leading structural proteomics technologies, IPI plans to build the worldís first integrated, industrial platform for high-throughput pharmaceutical target function/structure interrogation using X-ray, NMR and mass spectrometry technologies from Bruker AXS, Bruker BioSpin and Bruker Daltonics (NASDAQ: BDAL), respectively. IPIís ProteoWorks™ Platform for rapid, parallel production of recombinant proteins from bioinformatic databases uses proprietary protein expression and purification processes based on IPIís advances in molecular biology and mass spectroscopy that eliminate many of the bottlenecks associated with conventional protein production systems. IPIís ProteoActive™ Platform monitors protein-protein interactions using a proprietary mass spectrometry system, which compiles functional information in a proprietary database to assess the function and therapeutic relevance of proteins in a cellular context. IPIís ProteoVision™ Platform uses proprietary NMR and X-ray crystallography systems to accelerate the determination of protein structure to guide small molecule design and library selection, hit selection and lead optimization. IPI has 45 employees, 70 percent with advanced degrees. IPI is located in Toronto, Canada and plans to open a U.S. site in the first half of 2001. IPIís investors include the Canadian-based venture firm of CC Capital Partners, Eastern Technology Seed Investment Fund and Lombard Odier of Switzerland. Aurora Biosciences® is a drug discovery company that uses proprietary advances in biology, chemistry and automation to accelerate the discovery of new medicines. Auroraís core technologies include a broad portfolio of proprietary fluorescence assay technologies and screening platforms designed to provide an integrated solution for drug discovery. Auroraís fluorescence assay technologies include GeneBLAzer™;, GenomeScreen™;, PhosphoryLIGHT™; and Vivid™; technologies, as well as a broad collection of fluorescent proteins. Auroraís screening platforms include an ultra-high throughput screening system, the UHTSS® Platform, Auroraís automated master compound store, the AMCS, and an ion channel technology screening platform, which includes Auroraís proprietary voltage sensor probes and a voltage ion probe reader, the VIPR™; subsystem. Aurora also provides assay development and screening services as part of its drug discovery collaborations. Auroraís Big Biology™; initiative is an internal drug discovery program focused on the identification of promising preclinical candidates within all major classes of gene targets. Auroraís technologies and drug discovery capabilities have been commercially validated by over 20 major life sciences companies and research organizations, including American Home Products, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ceres, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Eli Lilly, Families of SMA, GlaxoSmithKline, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, NV Organon Laboratories, Pfizer, Pharmacia and Roche. For additional information on Auroraís services and products, please contact Sales and Marketing via email at marcom@aurorabio.com. Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are "forward-looking" statements which involve a high degree of technological and competitive risks and uncertainties that exist in Auroraís operations and business environment. Such forward-looking statements include statements relating to Auroraís ability to perform services under its agreement with IPI and Auroraís potential future revenues under that agreement. Such statements are only predictions and Auroraís actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include Auroraís ability to develop and commercialize new technologies, as well as commercial acceptance of such technologies, Auroraís ability to rapidly identify promising drug candidates through its Big Biology initiative, Auroraís dependence on patents and proprietary rights, Auroraís ability to generate additional sales of products and services, Auroraís dependence on pharmaceutical and biotechnology collaborations and the development or availability of competing technologies, products or services. These factors and others are more fully described in Auroraís Annual Report on Form -K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2000, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For additional corporate information, visit the Aurora website at http://www.aurorabio.com. Aurora Biosciences®, Big Biology™;, GeneBLAzer™;, GenomeScreen™;, PhosphoryLIGHT™;, UHTSS®, VIPR™; and Vivid™; are trademarks of Aurora Biosciences Corporation. Pharmaceutical Proteomics™ , ProteoWorks™ , ProteoActive™ , and ProteoVision™ are trademarks of Integrative Proteomics, Inc. For more information, please contact:
Integrative
Proteomics, Inc. |