UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
GAITHERSBURG, Md., July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a subsidiary of Boston Biomedica, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBII), announced today that it has exercised its option to expand its license agreement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) to include Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) as an additional therapeutic target. Boston Biomedica and Panacos have collaborated for several years with Professor K. H. Lee, Kenan Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Director of the Natural Products Laboratory at UNC. The focus of this collaboration has been to discover natural product-based antiviral drug candidates, resulting in the identification of a family of compounds that show activity against HBV in addition to several families of anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) drug candidates.
The current License Agreement confers worldwide rights to the families of anti-HIV drug candidates that include PA-344, PA-457 and their synthetic analogs. By exercising their option, Panacos has expanded the license agreement to include the family of potential HBV inhibitors. During the next few months, Panacos intends to study these compounds in order to determine their suitability for further development as HBV drug candidates. HBV is the causative agent of both the acute and chronic forms of hepatitis B, a liver disease that is a major cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. The Company believes there is a significant need for new therapies to treat HBV infection.
Dr. Graham Allaway, CEO of Panacos said: "We continue to grow our productive antiviral drug discovery collaboration with Professor K. H. Lee. Dr. Lee is one of the world's foremost natural products chemists and the founding member of our Scientific and Development Advisory Board. In addition to expanding the current license to cover HBV, we expect to collaborate on additional viruses and diseases in the future."
Panacos is focusing on the discovery and development of antiviral drugs and vaccines with novel mechanisms of action. The Company has three pharmaceutical discovery and development platforms. In addition to the Natural Products Platform referred to above, Panacos's Viral Fusion Inhibitor Platform is aimed at identifying novel therapeutics for a variety of medically important viral diseases by targeting the first step in virus infection, fusion to a human cell. The Company's Vaccine Platform utilizes a proprietary approach for the generation of potential vaccines against HIV and other viruses, based on "fusion active regions" of the viruses' surface proteins that are critical to the infection process.
During the past several months, Panacos has made significant progress on the development of its lead HIV drug candidate PA-344. Originally discovered by screening natural products for anti-HIV activity, PA-344 is a synthetic derivative that is readily amenable to scale-up manufacturing. Recent studies by scientists at Panacos and its collaborators have confirmed that PA-344 appears to have a different mechanism of action than approved HIV drugs that target the viral reverse transcriptase or protease enzymes. It has also been shown that this drug candidate is highly synergistic with approved HIV drugs, adding to the potential value of PA-344 as a component of combination therapy for HIV infection and for the treatment of HIV strains resistant to current drug regimens. Preliminary studies of the drug candidate in animals have provided promising pharmacokinetic data, adding impetus to the continuing pre- clinical development and future clinical study of PA-344, which is currently a major focus for Panacos's management team.
Panacos's progress on its other technology platforms this year includes the filing of patent applications covering its proprietary viral fusion and vaccine technologies. Furthermore, the Company is currently negotiating collaborations with commercial and academic groups in these areas. Panacos scientists have been invited to make presentations on the Company's major programs at two upcoming scientific conferences in September.
Panacos was formed with the goal of maximizing shareholder value for BBI shareholders by expediting the development of pharmaceutical programs that have been funded for several years by Boston Biomedica. BBI is currently in discussions with venture investors and others to raise the large amount of capital required to support the development of Panacos's lead drug candidates, with the goal for Panacos to become an independent private company later this year. After completion of this financing, BBI intends to maintain a significant but less than 50% ownership interest in Panacos.
Statements contained in this news release that state Boston Biomedica's, Panacos's or their respective management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are "forward-looking" statements. It is important to note that Panacos's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those projected include the possibility that due to unforeseen technical and other difficulties Panacos may not be able to develop its current technology into commercially successful products, that early data on the family of HBV inhibitors that are the focus of this license expansion with UNC may not be reproduced or that the resulting products may not be developed successfully, Boston Biomedica may not be able to successfully raise the capital required for the development of Panacos's product lines or may not be able to establish Panacos as an independent company or such establishment may take longer than currently expected. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained from time to time in Boston Biomedica's SEC filings, including but not limited to Boston Biomedica's report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999 and on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2000. Copies of these documents may be obtained by contacting Boston Biomedica or the SEC.
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Contacts:
Boston Biomedica, Inc.
Richard T. Schumacher, CEO
William R. Prather, M.D., Sr. VP
(508) 580-1900 (T)
(508) 580-1110 (F)
Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Graham P. Allaway, Ph.D., President & CEO
(240) 631-1395 (T)
301) 208-8829 (F)
SOURCE Boston Biomedica, Inc.
Web site: http: //www.bbii.com
CONTACT: Richard T. Schumacher, CEO, or William R. Prather, M.D., Sr. VP of Boston Biomedica, Inc., 508-580-1900, or Graham P. Allaway, Ph.D., President & CEO of Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 240-631-1395