Array and ICOS Establish Drug Discovery Collaboration Exploiting
Array BioPharma Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRY) and ICOS Corporation (Nasdaq: ICOS) today announced the signing of a collaboration agreement to discover and develop small molecule drugs directed at two specific disease targets containing the I-domain allosteric site (IDAS) structural motif. IDAS-targeted drugs regulate function of the target proteins through a novel allosteric mechanism. ICOS has identified key structural features of proteins containing the IDAS motif that will be exploited by Array's chemists to systematically produce drugs against targets of this class. "We believe that this approach could be an efficient route towards break- through drugs across several therapeutic areas," said W. Michael Gallatin, Ph.D., Vice President and Scientific Director, ICOS. "In prior collaborations with ICOS, Array has demonstrated the ability to rapidly identify clinical development candidates using its technology platform. ICOS is pleased to employ Array technology and dedicated personnel on this important ICOS program."
Under the terms of this agreement, ICOS will provide Array with research funding over two years. Array and ICOS scientists will collaborate in all aspects of lead generation and lead optimization. ICOS will be responsible for clinical development and commercialization. Array is entitled to receive success payments upon reaching certain development milestones and royalties based upon sales of products resulting from this collaboration.
"ICOS has discovered a novel regulatory mechanism of protein function with broad implications," said Kevin Koch, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer, Array BioPharma. "Array has built a broad technology platform in chemical genomics to develop small molecule therapeutics by combining structural biology, medicinal chemistry and chemoinformatics. We are excited about the opportunity to expand our collaborations with ICOS in this new area of drug discovery."
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