Bio Screening Industry News

Exclusive Collaboration With Initial Focus on Peripheral Vascular,
Coronary, and Orthopedic Indications

VANCOUVER, Oct. 3 /CNW/ - Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANPI,
TSX: ANP) today announced a license and research collaboration agreement with
CombinatoRx, Incorporated focused on the selection and development of novel
combination pharmaceutical compounds for Angiotech’s local interventional
therapy applications. The collaboration significantly expands Angiotech’s
library of potentially useful drug compounds by providing Angiotech with
access to CombinatoRx’s compound library of over 2 million analyzed
combinations of known pharmaceuticals, for exclusive use in various
interventional medicine fields. Angiotech will be hosting a conference call
for investors and analysts to discuss details of the collaboration at 2:00 PM
Eastern time today (11:00 AM Pacific). The call will be webcast on Angiotech’s
website at www.angiotech.com under Investor Relations or by dialling toll-free
at 1-866-202-3109 (North America) or 617-213-8844 (International) and entering
Access Code 72807940.
CombinatoRx uses a high throughput screening system to discover
proprietary combinations of two or more drugs that are able to affect
important pharmaceutical pathways with the aim of achieving greater efficacy
than can be achieved through the use of a single drug alone.
The agreement provides Angiotech with immediate access to CombinatoRx’s
combination pharmaceutical compounds to target common problems in areas such
as vascular, orthopedic and general surgery, including specifically,
peripheral artery disease, coronary stenting and joint diseases. There will
also be joint research effort of up to five years designed to combine
CombinatoRx’s combination drug discovery platform and capabilities with
Angiotech’s expertise in local drug selection and delivery across a number of
disease areas including orthopedics, gynecology, vascular restenosis, and
local tumor cell management.
“Our license and exclusive relationship with CombinatoRx provides us
immediate access to a large and comprehensive library of combination
compounds” said William Hunter, M.D. MSc, President and CEO of Angiotech
Pharmaceuticals. “We believe there are several CombinatoRx combination
compounds that will enhance our leadership position in repurposing known drugs
to treat local vascular and orthopedic disease and that may be of immediate
use in certain of our key product development programs, including the
treatment of restenosis in coronary stent applications. In addition, using
CombinatoRx’s proprietary platform and approach, we can rapidly screen a large
number of unique drug combinations in our proven biological models and assays.
We believe working with CombinatoRx will enable us to make fast, and most
importantly, scientifically informed decisions for commercialization of
products containing combinations of two or more drugs. Given that many drugs
interact with one another in unexpected ways, we believe it will become ever
more important to conduct such a scientific approach to discover the best
pharmaceutical solutions for local interventional therapies.”
“This collaboration represents a new spectrum of pharmaceutical options”,
said Rui Avelar, M.D., Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs and
Communications of Angiotech. “This sophisticated approach to drug discovery
enables us to find combinations that are not simply additive in effect but
potentially superior in their combined form. We plan to quickly take advantage
of the collaboration and CombinatoRx’s approach to enhance our clinical
initiatives.”
The licenses from the collaboration are exclusive in Angiotech’s
principal fields of interest, including local interventional pharmaceutical
therapies for certain vascular and orthopedic indications and in the majority
of potential drug-device combinations. As consideration for the license and
collaboration, Angiotech will provide CombinatoRx initial consideration of $27
million in cash, and will make a concurrent $15 million investment in
CombinatoRx. In addition, CombinatoRx will receive milestone payments and
royalties from Angiotech for each combination pharmaceutical compound
successfully developed and commercialized by Angiotech or Angiotech’s
commercialization partners. The intellectual property developed during the
research collaboration will be jointly owned, but exclusively licensed to
Angiotech in its fields of drug-device combinations and certain local drug
delivery products, and to CombinatoRx primarily for systemic therapies, and
for a limited number of drug-device combination fields.

Vancouver-based Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a specialty
pharmaceutical company pioneering the combination of pharmaceutical compounds
with medical devices and biomaterials to both create novel solutions for
poorly addressed disease states and dramatically improve surgical outcomes. To
find out more about Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANPI, TSX: ANP),
please visit our website at www.angiotech.com.

CombinatoRx, Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company focused on
developing new medicines built from synergistic combinations of approved
drugs, designed to attack disease on multiple fronts. CombinatoRx applies its
proprietary combination drug discovery technology to identify new combination
product candidates in a number of disease areas, including immuno-inflammatory
disease, oncology, metabolic disease and neurodegenerative diseases. By
applying its proprietary screening technology, CombinatoRx has discovered and
advanced into clinical trials a portfolio of seven product candidates
targeting multiple diseases. For further information, please visit the
CombinatoRx website at www.combinatorx.com.

Statements contained herein that are not based on historical or current
fact, including without limitation statements containing the words
“anticipates,” “believes,” “may,” “continue,” “estimate,” “expects,” “may” and
“will” and words of similar import, constitute “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, events or
developments to be materially different from any future results, events or
developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such
factors include, among others, the following: general economic and business
conditions, both nationally and in the regions in which the Company operates;
technology changes; competition; changes in business strategy or development
plans; the ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; existing
governmental regulations and changes in, or the failure to comply with,
governmental regulations; liability and other claims asserted against the
Company; and other factors referenced in the Company’s filings with the United
States Securities and Exchange Commission or the Canadian securities
regulators. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume
the obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

For further information: Analysts and Investors: Todd Young, Vice
President Investor Relations and Communications, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., (604) 221-7676 ext 6933; Analysts: Rui Avelar, Senior Vice President
Medical Affairs and Communications, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
(604) 221-7676 ext 6996; Media: Wendy Carhart, Waggener Edstrom Bioscience,
(503) 443-7354, Email: wendyc@wagged.com