Novasite Pharmaceuticals Announces Acquisition of PsyCheNomicS, Inc.; Novasite Augments Pipeline of CNS Drug Candidates; James Hauske, Ph.D. Joins Novasite as Executive Vice President Drug Discovery
SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 15, 2005–Novasite Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company focused on the discovery and development of allosteric modulators of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), today announced that it has acquired PsyCheNomicS, Inc., a drug discovery company focused on diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“The PsyCheNomicS acquisition provides Novasite with high-quality CNS drug leads, our area of therapeutic focus. Importantly, through this transaction we have also substantially augmented our management team with the appointment of Dr. James Hauske, a drug discovery and development veteran, whom we welcome as Executive Vice President of Drug Discovery,” commented Tim Harris, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Novasite. “These new compound assets complement Novasite’s existing pipeline and our core structure-function analysis and single-cell screening technologies. Novasite’s business model is to apply our powerful discovery technologies to promising leads and rapidly advance them into clinical evaluation to create value for our stakeholders.”
“This is a great opportunity to add value to an organization with differentiating technology in GPCR drug discovery and excellent science, and it is a pleasure to join such a team,” said Jim Hauske.
James Hauske, Ph.D.
Dr. Hauske joins Novasite from PsyCheNomicS, the CNS drug discovery startup he founded. While at PsyCheNomicS, Dr. Hauske developed technology to identify small molecule drug candidates that bind to distinct sets of disease-relevant molecular targets including GPCRs. Jim held executive positions at Beyond Genomics, Sepracor, Arris (now part of Celera), and Pfizer. He has extensive experience in medicinal chemistry and preclinical development, including the discovery of GPCR active drugs. During his 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry he has taken eight new chemical entities into clinical development including candidates that have progressed through various phases of testing and commercialization.
About Novasite Pharmaceuticals
Novasite is a drug discovery and development company with a pipeline focused on diseases of the central nervous system and other areas of unmet medical need. Novasite’s pipeline is enhanced by its understanding of structure-function relationships and the discovery of allosteric modulators for validated G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) targets. Allosteric modulators are compounds that affect GPCR function by binding at a site distinct from the natural ligand binding site and are believed to have a more effective mechanism of action than traditional therapeutics. Novasite’s technology base is comprised of a powerful receptor mutation-profiling methodology coupled with a proprietary single cell screening system that has been optimized to detect allosteric modulators.
