Tularik Receives Milestone Payment From Eli Lilly And Company
09-Nov-2001
Tularik Inc. (Nasdaq:
TLRK) today announced that its
anti-thrombotic research
collaboration with Eli Lilly
and Company (NYSE: LLY)
has successfully progressed to
an advanced stage of
preclinical development,
triggering an undisclosed
milestone payment to Tularik.
As part of the July 2001
acquisition of the
computer-aided molecular
design (CAMD) unit of
Protherics PLC, Tularik
inherited all existing CAMD
research agreements, including
the anti-thrombotic research
collaboration with Lilly. In
addition, the acquisition
included proprietary virtual
screening and molecular
modeling software and a team
of software designers,
computational chemists and
medicinal chemists.
The multi-year Lilly
collaboration was established
to design and optimize
inhibitors of Factor Xa using
Tularik’s CAMD technology,
as well as to investigate other
potential anti-thrombotic
targets. In addition to the
current milestone payment,
Tularik is entitled to additional
payments for Factor Xa
inhibitors as they progress
through clinical trials to
registration. Royalties are
payable on sales of products
emerging from the
collaboration.
"The use of these capabilities
in a successful collaboration
with Lilly further demonstrates
the value of our new,
proprietary CAMD
technology," remarked David
V. Goeddel, Ph.D., Tularik’s
CEO. "The acquisition of
virtual screening capabilities is
another example of Tularik’s
strategy to apply novel
technologies to augment and
accelerate our small molecule
drug discovery effort."
Factor Xa inhibitors are a new
class of compounds targeting
the blood-clotting process,
with the aim of preventing or
limiting clot Formation. Blood
clots cause serious and often
fatal conditions, including heart
attacks, strokes and deep vein
thrombosis. Current therapies
for these diseases rely mainly
on injectable drugs, which have
drawbacks in clinical usage.
Over 10 million people
worldwide are eligible to
receive oral anticoagulants for
the prevention and treatment of
thrombotic diseases.
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