First technology licence represents first commercial milestone for ITI Life Sciences

Press Release, 26 October 2006

Dundee, Scotland ITI Life Sciences is pleased to announce that it has reached its first commercial milestone with the signing of commercialisation licences with CXR Biosciences (Dundee, Scotland) and Artemis Pharmaceuticals (Cologne, Germany). The licences will allow both companies to commercialise new technology and services aimed at improving the discovery and development of new drugs, which has been jointly developed in the ITI Life Sciences R&D programme in which they participate.

Shonaig Macpherson, Chairman of ITI Scotland, said: "This is the very first example of technology generated by an ITI programme resulting in a commercial licence. It is an excellent demonstration of how the ITI model can generate, from Scotland’s research excellence, technology that has real commercial value and can contribute to the ongoing success of the life sciences industry in this country."

Minister for Enterprise Nicol Stephen said: "ITI Life Sciences’ investment is helping create a vibrant and strong economy in science and technology. 

"To date the ITIs have invested over £100m in the technologies of tomorrow. Today’s announcement is a clear indication that the approach is working.  I welcome this important commercial achievement and congratulate all of the project participants."

The three-year £5.5m R&D programme involving CXR Biosciences and Artemis Pharmaceuticals, which commenced in February 2005, is designed to develop novel ways of testing potential new drugs to see whether they are likely to work and be safe before they go into clinical trials in humans. This stage of the drug development process is a crucial industry bottleneck; the global market for such metabolism and toxicity testing is estimated to be currently worth US$3 billion per annum.

As a result of this R&D programme, the first of a series of new models to test for and predict toxicity has been developed. A commercial licence for this model covering Europe and Japan has been granted to CXR Biosciences and Artemis and the model is expected to be sold by the two companies to pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms. ITI Life Sciences will receive royalties on sales of the product, which will be re-invested in this and other programmes. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Dr Eleanor Mitchell, ITI Life Sciences' acting CEO, said "Not only does this licence represent a significant moment for ITI Life Sciences, but it also demonstrates the international appeal of the ITI approach with close co-operation between a Scottish organisation, CXR Biosciences, and a German company, Artemis, leading to the very rapid development of the new technology to which they have been granted a licence. Over the next year we anticipate reaching a number of commercial milestones across the R&D programmes we have commissioned to date, as well as initiating new programmes based on our market foresighting."

Dr Tom Shepherd, CEO of CXR Biosciences said, "The speed with which this R&D programme has generated its first commercially applicable technology is a result of a clearly defined project, complementary skills, a highly collaborative approach and importantly, appropriate levels of funding. This technology, and others we expect to be developed over the course of this programme, has the potential to transform the way new drugs are developed."

Dr Paul Rounding, Managing Director of Artemis Pharmaceuticals said, "Collaborations, such as these being initiated by ITI Life Sciences, are very important for the biotechnology industry, which is full of invention but often lacking in funds. Proper direction of these programmes towards ambitious but achievable commercial goals not only will benefit all participants but also provide new ways of improving the development of safe new drugs."

ARTEMIS Pharmaceuticals GmbH
Monika Hahn
Tel: +49(0)221-96453-10
m.hahn @ artemispharma.de
www.artemispharma.de

ITI Life Sciences
Rebecca Trengove
Tel.: +44(0)1382568060
rebecca.trengove @ itilifesciences.com
www.itilifesciences.com

CXR Biosciences
Dr. Tom Shepherd
Tel.: +44(0)1382 432163
tomshepherd @ cxrbiosciences.com
www.cxrbiosciences.com

For further information please contact

Artemis:
Monika Hahn
Tel: +49(0)221-96453-10

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