Compounds to be developed for selected inflammatory diseases
November 11, 2003
Business Wire
West Conshohocken, Pa.
BTG, the global technology commercialization company, announced today that it is seeking partners to develop and commercialize its PDE-4 inhibitor portfolio for specific inflammatory indications outside of respiratory disease.
PDE-4 inhibitors are candidates for the treatment of a wide array of serious conditions, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and non-respiratory indications such as cognitive disorders, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, contact dermatitis and rheumatoid arthritis. To date, most development programs have focused on the treatment of respiratory disease. While positive clinical results have recently been reported for this class of compounds in chronic-obstructive pulmonary disease, other results have been mixed, most likely due to compound-specific issues around efficacy and/or toxicity.
Pre-clinical studies investigating BTG's proprietary compounds have demonstrated encouraging efficacy and safety profiles, which may signify an important advancement in the development of new therapies for a variety of inflammatory diseases, including multiple sclerosis, contact dermatitis, and osteoporosis.
"In addition to the encouraging pre-clinical results, we believe that pursuit of select indications outside of the respiratory disease area may represent a more rapid path through the clinic due to the specific types of clinical trials that are required," said Thomas Logan, Ph.D., Vice President of BTG's Biopharmaceuticals Business Unit. "We look forward to working with development partners to explore these non-respiratory indications for our proprietary PDE-4 inhibitors."
About BTG
BTG finds, develops and commercializes emerging technologies in the
life and physical sciences. These innovations are protected by a strong
portfolio of intellectual property that BTG develops and enhances. BTG
then captures the value in these technologies through licensing and venturing
activities. From the origins of its business in 1949, BTG has commercialized
major innovations such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), recombinant
factor IX blood-clotting protein, Campath(R) (alemtuzumab) and Multilevel
Cell (MLC) memory. BTG is quoted on the London Stock Exchange under the
symbol "BGC" and operates from offices in London and Philadelphia, with
representation in Tokyo. BTG operates through wholly owned subsidiaries,
BTG International Ltd. and BTG International Inc. in the UK and USA, respectively.
Further information on BTG can be found at www.btgplc. com.
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