Investor Update
Basel, 30 November 2005
Roche and BioCryst collaborate on clinical compound BCX-4208 for transplantation and autoimmune diseases
Roche and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCRX) today announced an exclusive license to develop and commercialize BioCryst’s phase I compound, BCX-4208, for the prevention of acute rejection in transplantation and for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. BCX-4208 is believed to have a potent ability to modulate T-cell activity. T-cells help the body determine when to initiate immune responses and when to accept or reject newly transplanted organs. By specifically modulating T-cell activity, BCX-4208 may offer transplant and autoimmune patients a more efficacious and tolerable treatment option.
“We are extremely pleased to enter into this agreement with Roche, a leader in the transplant and autoimmune disease markets,” stated Charles E. Bugg, Ph.D., BioCryst’s Chairman and CEO. “This collaboration not only produces a substantial strategic and economic benefit to BioCryst, it also provides all of the essential elements for the rapid, comprehensive and competitive development of BCX-4208.”
“BioCryst’s BCX-4208 is a promising addition to our pipeline,” said Peter Hug, Roche’s Global Head of Pharma Partnering. “As a new therapeutic agent with a novel mechanism of action, it has the potential to offer significant improvement in treatment for transplant recipients and patients suffering from autoimmune related diseases.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will obtain worldwide rights to BCX-4208 in exchange for a $25 million up-front payment and a $5 million payment as reimbursement for supply of material during the first 24 months of the collaboration. Future event payments could reach $530 million in addition to royalties on product sales of BCX-4208. For five years, Roche will have a right of first negotiation on existing back-up PNP inhibitors in transplant rejection or autoimmune diseases. BioCryst retains the right to co-promote BCX-4208 in the U.S. for several indications. Any new PNP inhibitor discovered subsequent to this agreement will be exempt from this agreement and BioCryst will retain all rights to such compounds.
Conference Call
BioCryst will sponsor a conference call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 to discuss today’s news in more detail. This call is open to the public and can be accessed live either over the Internet from the company's website www.biocryst.com or by dialling 1-800-811-7286 (U.S.) or 1-913-981-4902 (international). No passcode is needed for the call.
About BCX-4208
BCX-4208, a second generation transition-state analog inhibitor of the enzyme purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), may have the potential to offer greater efficacy and activity in the treatment of autoimmune disease and transplant rejection than currently available therapies. BioCryst licensed this compound and other PNP inhibitors from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Industrial Research Ltd. and will owe sublicense payments to these third parties on the upfront payment, future event payments and royalties received by BioCryst for the sublicense of these inhibitors. In March 2005, BioCryst successfully completed a phase I ascending single oral dose clinical trial consisting of 84 healthy volunteers. The trial had seven dosing cohorts with twelve patients in each cohort. In August 2005, BioCryst initiated a phase Ib trial in healthy volunteers to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of multiple oral doses of BCX-4208.
About BioCryst
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. designs, optimizes and develops novel drugs that block key enzymes involved in cancer, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, and viral infections. BioCryst integrates the necessary disciplines of biology, crystallography, medicinal chemistry and computer modeling to effectively use structure-based drug design to discover and develop small molecule pharmaceuticals. For more information about BioCryst, please visit the company's website at www.biocryst.com.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is a world leader in diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology. In 2004 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 21.7 billion Swiss francs, while the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 7.8 billion Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 65,000 people in 150 countries and has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. Additional information about the Roche Group is available on the Internet (www.roche.com).
Roche and BioCryst collaborate on clinical compound BCX-4208 for transplantation and autoimmune diseases
Roche and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCRX) today announced an exclusive license to develop and commercialize BioCryst’s phase I compound, BCX-4208, for the prevention of acute rejection in transplantation and for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. BCX-4208 is believed to have a potent ability to modulate T-cell activity. T-cells help the body determine when to initiate immune responses and when to accept or reject newly transplanted organs. By specifically modulating T-cell activity, BCX-4208 may offer transplant and autoimmune patients a more efficacious and tolerable treatment option.
“We are extremely pleased to enter into this agreement with Roche, a leader in the transplant and autoimmune disease markets,” stated Charles E. Bugg, Ph.D., BioCryst’s Chairman and CEO. “This collaboration not only produces a substantial strategic and economic benefit to BioCryst, it also provides all of the essential elements for the rapid, comprehensive and competitive development of BCX-4208.”
“BioCryst’s BCX-4208 is a promising addition to our pipeline,” said Peter Hug, Roche’s Global Head of Pharma Partnering. “As a new therapeutic agent with a novel mechanism of action, it has the potential to offer significant improvement in treatment for transplant recipients and patients suffering from autoimmune related diseases.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will obtain worldwide rights to BCX-4208 in exchange for a $25 million up-front payment and a $5 million payment as reimbursement for supply of material during the first 24 months of the collaboration. Future event payments could reach $530 million in addition to royalties on product sales of BCX-4208. For five years, Roche will have a right of first negotiation on existing back-up PNP inhibitors in transplant rejection or autoimmune diseases. BioCryst retains the right to co-promote BCX-4208 in the U.S. for several indications. Any new PNP inhibitor discovered subsequent to this agreement will be exempt from this agreement and BioCryst will retain all rights to such compounds.
Conference Call
BioCryst will sponsor a conference call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 to discuss today’s news in more detail. This call is open to the public and can be accessed live either over the Internet from the company's website www.biocryst.com or by dialling 1-800-811-7286 (U.S.) or 1-913-981-4902 (international). No passcode is needed for the call.
About BCX-4208
BCX-4208, a second generation transition-state analog inhibitor of the enzyme purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), may have the potential to offer greater efficacy and activity in the treatment of autoimmune disease and transplant rejection than currently available therapies. BioCryst licensed this compound and other PNP inhibitors from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Industrial Research Ltd. and will owe sublicense payments to these third parties on the upfront payment, future event payments and royalties received by BioCryst for the sublicense of these inhibitors. In March 2005, BioCryst successfully completed a phase I ascending single oral dose clinical trial consisting of 84 healthy volunteers. The trial had seven dosing cohorts with twelve patients in each cohort. In August 2005, BioCryst initiated a phase Ib trial in healthy volunteers to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of multiple oral doses of BCX-4208.
About BioCryst
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. designs, optimizes and develops novel drugs that block key enzymes involved in cancer, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, and viral infections. BioCryst integrates the necessary disciplines of biology, crystallography, medicinal chemistry and computer modeling to effectively use structure-based drug design to discover and develop small molecule pharmaceuticals. For more information about BioCryst, please visit the company's website at www.biocryst.com.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is a world leader in diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology. In 2004 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 21.7 billion Swiss francs, while the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 7.8 billion Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 65,000 people in 150 countries and has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. Additional information about the Roche Group is available on the Internet (www.roche.com).
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