http://finance.individual.com/display_news.asp?doc_id=CT2001221b0639&page=news
August 9, 2001 9:32am
BRISBANE, Australia, Aug 9, 2001
(BW HealthWire) -- Progen Industries Limited (Nasdaq:PGLAF)(ASX:PGL) and
the Australian National University (ANU) today announced that the Australian
Patent Office had accepted a provisional patent application describing
novel chemistries to be used in the design and synthesis of new drugs.
The provisional patent "Linked Cyclitols
and their polysulfated derivatives" covers new chemistries for building
(synthesising) compounds that mimic the shape of carbohydrates.
According to Progen's Vice President
of Research and Development, Dr. Robert Don, Progen plans to use the new
chemistries to develop drugs that block the action of specific targets
such as growth factors produced by cancers.
"By expanding our knowledge of carbohydrate-protein
interactions and developing new generic chemistries to block these interactions,
Progen is continuing to expand its drug discovery research platform," Dr.
Don said.
"The new technology will be used
to develop compounds that act like `master keys' that bind to a large family
of target molecules. These `master' keys can be chemically modified to
block the action of unique target molecules in order to prevent specific
diseases.
"We plan to use this technology platform
to discover new compounds for use in our clinical trials program and to
form partnerships with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies
at the drug discovery phase," Dr. Don stated.
Dr. Don added, "Progen is committed
to the discovery of inhibitors of carbohydrate-protein interactions as
potential treatments for a number of different human diseases including
cancer, inflammatory disease, cardiovascular disease and infectious disease."
Carbohydrates play an important role
in a wide range of biological processes including hormonal regulation of
cells, cell-to-cell interaction, virus-host cell and bacteria-host cell
recognition, and cellular differentiation.
The discovery of the novel chemistries
was made as a part of Progen's ongoing research collaboration with Professor
Martin Banwell and his team at ANU's Research School of Chemistry, and
Professor Chris Parish and his team at ANU's John Curtin School of Medical
Research.
Progen is also collaborating with
Professor Mark von Itzstein from Australia's Griffith University to discover
new heparanase inhibitors for the treatment of inflammatory diseases including
multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease.
About Progen
Progen Industries is a biotechnology
company committed to the discovery, development and commercialization of
small molecule pharmaceuticals for the treatment of a variety of diseases
for which there is a significant demand for new therapies. The company's
lead drug candidate, PI-88, is under development as a potential treatment
for cancer and cardiovascular disease. Phase I/II trials in cancer patients
commenced in the United States earlier this month. The company has a world-class
facility that manufactures drug candidates under Good Manufacturing Practices
(GMP) for clinical trials.
About Progen's Drug Discovery
Platform
Progen's drug discovery efforts are
focused on the development of potent, selective inhibitors of carbohydrate-protein
interactions, which are implicated in a range of different diseases including
cancer, inflammatory disease, cardiovascular diseases and infectious disease.
Through the development of its lead
drug PI-88, Progen has built up considerable proprietary knowledge and
intellectual property related to the role of carbohydrates in disease.
Progen is leveraging this "know-how"
to develop a core technology platform that will be used to design drugs
for a range of diseases including cancer, inflammation and infection.
Using a lock and key analogy, the
chemical scaffold cats like a master key that fits all locks. By refining
the master key, a specific key for a specific lock can be designed in the
same way, the scaffold is modified chemically (much like adding pieces
of meccano) to build up a targeted drug for a nominated disease where carbohydrate-protein
interactions are implicated. Changes in scaffolds are predicted from sophisticated
computer modeling.
Adopting this approach will give
rise to an effective commercialization strategy for Progen and will allow
the company not only to develop its own lead drugs based on the platform
technology, but also to form a number of strategic alliances with pharmaceutical
companies to discover drugs for different disease areas.
This strategy is supported by a growing
trend for major pharmaceutical companies to out-source a significant proportion
of early stage research to biotechnology companies. The percentage of Australian
biotechnology companies developing alliances with international partners
has risen from 38% to 53% since 1999 (Ernst & Young Australian Biotechnology
Report 2001).
This press release contains forward-looking
statements that are based on current management expectations. These statements
may differ materially from actual future events or results due to certain
risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, risks associated
with drug discovery, development and manufacture, future capital needs,
general economic conditions, and other risks and uncertainties detailed
from time to time in the Company's filings with the Australian Stock Exchange
and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, there
can be no assurance that others will not independently develop similar
products or processes or design around patents owned or licensed by the
Company, or that patents owned or licensed by the Company will provide
meaningful protection or competitive advantage.
CONTACT: Progen
Industries Ltd.
Copyright (C) 2001 Business Wire
Source: Business Wire
Dr. Robert Don, 011-61-7-3273-09100
or
Six Sigma Group
Stephen N. Anderson, 415/776-6499