BERLIN, Germany, Jan. 23, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- atugen AG, today announced the signing of an agreement with the University of California, San Francisco to utilize atugen's technology to validate the function of genetic targets in the laboratory of Keith Mostov PhD, MD, professor of Anatomy and Biochemistry.
Under the terms of the agreement, atugen USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of atugen AG, will develop GeneBlocs, its proprietary antisense reagents, to evaluate in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells genetic targets associated with epithelial membrane regulation. atugen will supply Dr. Mostov with highly specific GeneBlocs and proprietary efficient, low toxicity delivery lipids to 'knock-down' the expression of these targets, in order to evaluate the targets' function. UCSF believes the technology will be very useful in dissecting how epithelial cells work, and therefore lead to progress in important epithelial diseases, such as cancer. In addition, atugen will get the first option to commercialize any technology resulting from the collaboration. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"UCSF represents the first in a number of collaborations atugen wants to complete in order to make our leading technologies available to the academic community," stated David Traylor, Senior Director, Business Development of atugen USA Inc. "We are excited to have both a university and a researcher of this caliber as the first major academic collaboration to use our proprietary technologies."
UCSF is a one of the leading biomedical research and health science education centers in the world. The mission of UCSF is to attract and educate the nation's most promising students to future careers in the health sciences and health care professions, with continuing emphasis on open access and diversity; to bring patients the best in health care service, from primary care to the most advanced technologies available; to encourage and support research and scholarly activities to improve the basic understanding of the mechanisms of disease and the social interactions related to human health; and to serve the community at large through educational and service programs that take advantage of the knowledge and skills of UCSF faculty, staff and students. www.ucsf.edu
atugen AG is a leading functional genomics Company with headquarters in Berlin, Germany and a subsidiary in Boulder, Colorado, USA. atugen's GeneBloc(r) technology can help pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners validate and select genetic targets of therapeutic value, as well as optimize their lead compounds, resulting in a decrease in the number of product failures and a subsequent reduction in the cost of developing new drugs. atugen's internal research programs in oncology have identified several novel cancer associated genes that are currently being evaluated for the development of small molecule and antisense therapeutics. atugen provides or has provided target discovery and validation services to Arena Pharmaceuticals, Astra Zeneca, Axys Pharmaceuticals, Bayer, Byk Gulden, Roche BioScience, BASF, Boehringer Ingelheim, Millennium, Novo Nordisk, Oxford GlycoSciences, Schering AG and its US affiliate, Berlex Biosciences, and Serono. If you have any questions please contact Noonan/Russo on +44 20 7726 4452.