Almirall announces collaboration with Sareum for protein structure determination
Barcelona, 9th of August 2005 - Almirall, the leading Spanish multinational pharmaceutical company, announces that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with Sareum Holdings plc, the specialist structure-based drug discovery and services business based in the UK, to conduct protein structure determination projects to support accelerated drug discovery programmes in Almirall.
Sareum will use its skills in high throughput protein expression, purification and structure determination with the aim of elucidating the precise nature of how Almirall’s potential drug candidates interact with their target protein. This information will assist Almirall’s scientists in their design of new and improved therapeutics against inflammatory diseases.
Sareum focuses on drug discovery based on information gained from determination of the three-dimensional protein structure with the aim of reducing the time it normally takes to discover new drug candidates. Once the structure is known novel chemical entities are designed that interact with the protein to reverse or stop the progression of a disease.
It has been calculated that, in the discovery and development process of a pharmaceutical product, 10 to 15 years can elapse from the identification of the therapeutic target to the commercial launch, a process requiring around 300 to 800 million Euros. Therefore, any progress towards optimising this process in order to offer new drugs to patients in a shorter time frame is a very positive advance.
“We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Sareum. We consider protein structure determination as an essential element in modern drug discovery strategy and we have high expectations that this collaboration will allow Almirall to significantly leverage its drug discovery capacity,” said Dr. José Mª Palacios, General Director for R&D in Almirall.
“We are very pleased that Almirall has chosen Sareum as a partner in protein structure determination. This is a further important collaboration that Sareum has signed since we started trading on AIM. We look forward to successful delivery of this project to Almirall and to close additional partnerships such as this”, said Dr. Tim Mitchell, Sareum’s Chief Executive Officer.
Sareum Holdings plc was set up in August 2003 to discover new drugs to treat cancer and inflammation and to provide a range of drug discovery services to the pharmaceutical industry.
More information about Sareum is available at http://www.sareum.co.uk
About Almirall
Almirall, a leading company committed to health, is a consolidated international pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercialises drugs from its own R&D, as well as licensed drugs, with the aim of improving health and quality of life.
Almirall focuses its drug discovery resources in therapeutic areas related to the treatment of asthma, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Almirall will be investing 500 million Euros in R&D over the next five years. This is the largest investment in this area by a Spanish pharmaceutical company. Forecasts for total sales in 2005 amount to 946 million Euros.
Almirall, whose headquarters are in