Avalon Pharmaceuticals and Merck & Co., Inc. Establish a Drug Discovery, Development and Commercialization Collaboration
March 06 2007 - 4:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
GERMANTOWN, Md., March 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Avalon
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ and NYSE ArcaEx: AVRX) today
announced a drug discovery, development and commercialization
collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc. to identify and develop
inhibitors for an undisclosed target that is important in the
development of cancer. Avalon will use its AvalonRx(R) platform to
screen a select set of compounds from Merck's proprietary compound
library and identify hits against this target that is generally
regarded as "intractable" based on the difficulty in identifying
inhibitors. Avalon will select compound families and optimize these
compounds to a preclinical candidate selection stage. Merck will be
responsible for the clinical development, regulatory approval and
commercialization of any potential product candidates. Under the
terms of the agreement Avalon may receive discovery, development,
regulatory and commercial milestones payments exceeding $200
million as well as royalties on any potential future marketed
products. "We are excited about this innovative collaboration with
Merck," said Kenneth C. Carter, Ph.D., President and CEO of Avalon
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. "The combination of Merck's considerable drug
discovery and development capabilities and Avalon's unique approach
for targeting otherwise intractable cancer pathways should result
in the identification of first-in-class drug candidates. This will
provide further validation for the AvalonRx(R) technology and its
potential for identifying therapeutics based upon the ability to
modulate pathways or targets within living cells." "We are very
pleased with this agreement and believe this collaboration has
potential to provide significant synergy in drug discovery," said
Lex Van der Ploeg, Ph.D., Vice President, Merck Research
Laboratories and Site Head Merck Boston. About Avalon
Pharmaceuticals Avalon Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical
company using its proprietary technology, AvalonRx(R), to discover
and develop cancer therapeutics. Avalon has a lead product in Phase
I clinical development (AVN944 - IMPDH inhibitor), as well as
preclinical programs to discover inhibitors for the beta-catenin
and aurora pathways now in late stage lead candidate optimization.
Avalon also has discovery programs on modulators of survivin
function and a drug discovery program targeting the MYC
oncoprotein, one of the most important and previously intractable
cancer targets. The company has value generating partnerships with
MedImmune, Medarex, and Novartis. Avalon Pharmaceuticals was
established in 1999 and is headquartered in Germantown, Md. About
AvalonRx(R) AvalonRx(R) is a comprehensive, innovative and
proprietary suite of technologies based upon large-scale gene
expression analysis. This platform facilitates drug discovery by
expanding the range of therapeutic targets for drug intervention,
including targets and target pathways frequently considered
intractable using conventional HTS approaches. The system allows
more informed decisions about which compounds to advance towards
clinical trials, and facilitates drug development through
identification of biomarkers of efficacy that can stratify patients
or provide early indicators of response. Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the United States Private Securities Reform Act of 1995.
These statements are based on management's current expectations and
are subject to risks, uncertainty and changes in circumstances,
which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to
differ materially from anticipated results, performance or
achievements. All statements contained herein that are not clearly
historical in nature are forward looking. Economic, business,
competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Avalon's business
are examples of factors, among others, that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those described in the
forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are also
expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements
included in Avalon's Securities and Exchange Commission filings,
including its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report
on Form 10-K. Avalon is under no obligation to (and expressly
disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. Contacts: Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Noonan Russo Gary Lessing Wendy Lau (Media) Executive Vice
President & CFO Tel: (212) 845-4272 Tel: (301) 556-9900 Fax:
(301) 556-9910 The Trout Group LLC Email: Chad Rubin (Investors)
Tel: (212) 477-9007 ext. 47 DATASOURCE: Avalon Pharmaceuticals,
Inc. CONTACT: Gary Lessing, Executive Vice President & CFO of
Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-301-556-9900, fax +1-301-556-9910,
; or Media: Wendy Lau of Noonan Russo, +1-212-845-4272, or
Investors: Chad Rubin of The Trout Group LLC, +1-212-477-9007, ext.
47, both for Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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