BioWorld International Correspondent

MUNICH, Germany - Atugen AG began a three-year collaboration with Byk Gulden to validate a number of novel genetic targets associated with cancer and immunological diseases.

The collaboration follows the successful completion of a target evaluation agreement between the companies signed in 2001.

The agreement provides that Atugen, of Berlin, will receive an up-front payment, annual licensing fees, research funding and milestone payments. Potential downstream royalties for Atugen are also included. Precise financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"Our initial evaluation agreement with Atugen proved to be completely successful," Heinz-Werner Radtke, Byk Gulden's executive vice president of research and development, said in a prepared statement. "Their technology will help reduce our attrition rates and provide important savings in time and research costs.

"As part of the research, we will be evaluating novel genetic targets in primary T cells, which are associated with inflammatory disease," Radtke added. "Traditionally, it has been impossible to perform validation studies in this cell type. However, Atugen's library of proprietary lipids, which enable delivery of the antisense molecules into the T cells, are promising to be very valuable in addressing this problem."

Atugen will develop GeneBlocs, specially designed antisense oligonucleotides, which inhibit expression of specific genetic targets selected by Byk Gulden, of Constance, Germany. The companies will then jointly analyze the effects of the GeneBlocs in a variety of pharmacological assays and in animal models of disease, attempting to validate gene function and disease association. Atugen will retain all rights to the GeneBlocs developed and has an option to perform antisense GeneBloc development on targets not pursued by Byk Gulden, the pharmaceutical group of Altana AG, based in Bad Homburg, Germany.

Atugen's GeneBloc technology is based on delivering specially designed oligonucleotides that reduce expression of target genes in vitro and in vivo, thus inhibiting protein production, and affecting a biological function. Ideally, direct correlation between reduction in target gene expression and effects on cellular function in cellular and animal models of disease can speed up the validation required to move the target into drug screening and development. In addition to target validation, the technology can further aid at various stages of the drug screening and development pipeline.

Zisi Fotev, Atugen's vice president of business development, said the deal with Byk Gulden shows Atugen's technological prowess. "The sequencing of the human genome has produced a vast number of novel gene targets that need fast and reliable validation for therapeutic efficacy at an early stage to avoid a subsequent increase in the cost of developing new drugs and the number of product failures. Byk Gulden has singled out Atugen's GeneBloc technology as a more efficient means of selecting those genes that contribute to causing disease."