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For Immediate Release, September 25, 2003 Affinium Announces Discovery Alliance Milestones and Progress in Pfizer Collaboration Integrated Effort has Resulted In the Attainment of Multiple Novel Structures for Structure Guided Discovery and Achievement of Collaboration Milestones TORONTO, CANADA (September 25, 2003) – Affinium Pharmaceuticals, a structure guided drug discovery company, announced today the attainment of discovery milestones resulting from its strategic alliance for structure guided drug discovery with Pfizer, Inc (NYSE: PFE), a world leading research-based pharmaceutical company. In May of 2002, Affinium and Pfizer initiated a drug discovery alliance to ascertain the structure, function and potential druggability of a number of targets in Pfizer drug discovery programs. In May 2003, the beginning of year two of the collaboration, Affinium achieved collaboration goals for production, functional characterization and structure determination of targets which triggered undisclosed discovery milestone payments to Affinium. Dr. John D. Mendlein, Affinium's Chairman and CEO, said, "In the first year our Pfizer alliance has provided great scientific achievements. The progress to date is a reflection of innovative thinking on the part of scientists from both companies. We look forward to continued progress and success in our programs with Pfizer." The alliance leverages Affinium’s proprietary, automated, functional, chemical and structural proteomics systems for drug discovery. Using its proprietary ProteoWorksTM and ProteoVisionTM Systems, Affinium has solved a number of novel structures for high priority targets. As the collaboration continues, Affinium will apply its proprietary ChemVisionTM System for the determination of target structures complexed with small molecules and may also take responsibility for chemistry interrogation of select targets. In addition to discovery milestones, Affinium receives payments for research support and database licenses and is eligible for potential clinical milestones. Affinium Pharmaceuticals is a structure guided drug discovery and development company. The Company’s proprietary, integrated R&D engine enables rapid advancement of internal and partnered small molecule programs via high throughput target production, determination of target function, and visualization of target structure with bound hits and leads to accelerate chemistry. Affinium’s pharmaceutical pipeline includes over 400 proprietary targets, a novel class of anti-infective compounds and proprietary programs in the areas of infectious and other human disease. Affinium’s collaborators and industrial partners include multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and leading biotechnology companies, including Bruker and Invitrogen Corporation. ChemVisionTM, ProteoVisionTM, ProteoWorksTM, Affinium and Affinium Pharmaceuticals are trademark names of Affinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. For more information, please contact: Affinium™
Pharmaceuticals Executive
Contact: Dr. John D. Mendlein |