Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Provides Update on Novartis Peptide Deformylase Inhibitor Program
March 04 2005 - 1:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Provides Update on Novartis Peptide
Deformylase Inhibitor Program KING OF PRUSSIA, Penn., March 4
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:
MICU; Nuovo Mercato) announced today that the company has received
another milestone payment from Novartis Pharma AG in recognition of
follow-up lead product candidates identified for Novartis'
development from its ongoing research collaboration focused on
peptide deformylase inhibitors, a novel class of antibiotics. The
company also announced that Novartis has suspended Phase 1
development of the first lead product candidate from the outpatient
respiratory tract program in favor of developing a second lead
compound, which is expected to enter the clinic by the end of the
year. "The identification of a second lead candidate further
validates our mechanism-based drug design and demonstrates the
speed and efficiency with which this prolific collaboration has
brought multiple optimized drug candidates from concept toward the
clinic," said Zhengyu Yuan, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of
Research. "With the preclinical studies started and an aggressive
development timeline established, we expect this candidate to move
from preclinical studies into the clinic in a timely manner." About
Peptide Deformylase Inhibitors Peptide deformylase inhibitors
constitute one of the most promising new antibiotic classes and
hold the potential to treat large markets of community bacterial
infections. The peptide deformylase inhibitor class of antibiotics
targets a novel protein that is essential for bacterial growth and
provides the basis for selective activity toward a wide range of
bacterial pathogens. This new class has already demonstrated
promising in vitro and in vivo activities against a broad spectrum
of bacteria, including those resistant to widely used penicillin,
cephalosporin, macrolide, and quinolone antibiotics. Peptide
deformylase is a new target for antibacterial drug discovery.
Vicuron scientists have combined their expertise in bacterial
genomics and mechanism based drug design, with skills in
microbiology and pharmacology, in collaboration with expert
scientists at Novartis, to identify a family of promising molecules
from which a lead compound was chosen which demonstrates selective
inhibition of peptide deformylase and exhibits potent broad
spectrum activity against key bacterial pathogens both in vitro and
in several in vivo models. About Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Vicuron
Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on
discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing vital
medicine for seriously ill patients. The company has two New Drug
Applications pending with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for
its lead products, dalbavancin, a novel intravenous antibiotic for
the treatment of serious Gram-positive infections, and
anidulafungin, a novel antifungal agent. Vicuron's versatile
research engine integrates industry-leading expertise in functional
genomics, natural products discovery, mechanism-based drug design
and combinatorial and medicinal chemistry. These approaches are
yielding promising novel and next- generation compounds, many of
which are in the later stages of preclinical development. In
addition, the company has research collaborations with leading
pharmaceutical companies, such as Novartis and Pfizer.
Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains
forward-looking statements that predict or describe future events
or trends. The matters described in these forward- looking
statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond Vicuron's
control. Vicuron faces many risks that could cause its actual
performance to differ materially from the results predicted by its
forward-looking statements, including the possibilities that
clinical trials and the results thereof might be delayed or
unsuccessful, that the timing of the filing of any new drug
application or any amendment to a new drug application might be
delayed, that clinical trials might indicate that a product
candidate is unsafe or ineffective, that the FDA might require
additional information to be submitted and additional actions to be
taken before it will make any decision, that any filed new drug
application may not be approved by the FDA, that ongoing
proprietary and collaborative research might not occur or yield
useful results, that the pipeline may not yield a new clinical
candidate or a commercial product, that a third party may not be
willing to license product candidates on terms acceptable to or at
all, that competitors might develop superior substitutes for
Vicuron's products or market these competitive products more
effectively, that a sales force may not be developed as
contemplated and that one or more of Vicuron's product candidates
may not be commercialized successfully. The reports that Vicuron
files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission contain a
fuller description of these and many other risks to which Vicuron
is subject. Because of those risks, Vicuron's actual results,
performance or achievements may differ materially from the results,
performance or achievements contemplated by its forward- looking
statements. The information set forth in this news release
represents management's current expectations and intentions.
Vicuron assumes no responsibility to issue updates to the
forward-looking matters discussed in this news release. DATASOURCE:
Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. CONTACT: Dov A. Goldstein, M.D. of
Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc., +1-610-205-2312, or ; or E. Blair
Schoeb of WeissComm Partners, +1-212-923-6737, or ; or Aline
Schimmel of Burns McClellan Inc., +1-212-213-0006, or . /First Call
Analyst: Web site: http://www.vicuron.com/
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