Graffinity and Elan in fragment-based drug-discovery collaboration

4 February 2009

Graffinity Pharmaceuticals GmbH has entered into a research collaboration with Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a subsidiary of Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE:ELN). Under the terms of the agreement, Graffinity will receive technology access fees and success payments for the generation of novel small molecule hits against a number of drug targets.

Elan will gain access to Graffinity’s proprietary fragment-based drug discovery technology which uses chemical microarrays and surface plasmon resonance to screen for small molecule fragments that bind to a variety of drug targets. The identification of novel modes of action and chemistry is a major focus of the collaboration. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Mathias Woker, Chief Business Officer of Graffinity, stated, "We are very pleased that Elan has decided to work with us. With this transaction we are launching our third drug discovery collaboration with a major life science company within the past nine months. This collaboration marks our transition to becoming the leading fragment-based drug discovery company."

Kristina Schmidt, CEO of Graffinity, said, "The reason for the heightened attention that our fragment screening approach currently receives, lies in three key advantages that only Graffinity offers in combination: first, Graffinity’s technology provides the broadest and deepest primary screen for fragment hits ever developed, second, the platform delivers readily usable novel chemistry within only four months, and thirdly, the Graffinity team possesses unparalleled know-how based on having screened more drug targets than any other team in the fragment space."

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