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Endo Pharmaceuticals Announces Research Collaborations to Develop Novel Pain Treatments and Discover Potential Cancer Treatments

Posted on: Tuesday, 10 February 2009, 15:30 CST

CHADDS FORD, Pa., Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Endo Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ENDP) announced today that it has signed two research collaboration agreements to develop novel treatments for pain and to discover potential treatments for cancer.

The first collaboration, with Harvard University, is based upon a new pain-drug-delivery technique discovered by Clifford Woolf, M.D., Ph.D., Harvard Medical School's Richard J. Kitz Professor of Anaesthesia Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Bruce Bean, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School Professor of Neurobiology, that targets pain-sensing neurons without affecting motor neurons. Under the terms of the agreement, Endo will receive exclusive world-wide rights to the technology and be responsible for development and commercialization of any drug candidates discovered under the agreement.

The second agreement, with Aurigene Discovery Technologies Ltd., is a three-year collaboration to discover novel drug candidates to treat cancer. Aurigene will be responsible for all discovery and preclinical research activities, while Endo will be responsible for all clinical development and commercialization of drug candidates that advance into human testing. Endo will also provide research funding and milestone payments and receive worldwide rights to all intellectual property that results from this collaboration.

Ivan Gergel, M.D., Endo executive vice president of research and development, stated: "We are very excited to be pursuing promising new avenues of research in pain management as well as cancer treatment. We look forward to working with our colleagues at Harvard to explore the potential to block pain without affecting motor or other functions, and with the team at Aurigene to discover new oncology drug candidates."

About Endo

Endo Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the research, development, sale and marketing of branded and generic prescription pharmaceuticals used primarily to treat and manage pain. Its products include LIDODERM(R), a topical patch to relieve the pain of postherpetic neuralgia; PERCOCET(R) and PERCODAN(R) tablets for the relief of moderate-to-moderately severe pain; FROVA(R) tablets for the acute treatment of migraine attacks with or without aura in adults; OPANA(R) tablets for the relief of moderate-to-severe acute pain where the use of an opioid is appropriate; OPANA(R) ER tablets for the relief of moderate-to-severe pain in patients requiring continuous, around-the-clock opioid treatment for an extended period of time; and VOLTAREN(R) gel, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug indicated for the relief of the pain of osteoarthritis of joints amenable to topical treatment. The company markets its branded pharmaceutical products to physicians in pain management, neurology, surgery, oncology, and primary care. More information, including this and past press releases of Endo Pharmaceuticals, is available at www.endo.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements including words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "plan," "will," "may," "intend," "guidance" or similar expressions are forward-looking statements. Because these statements reflect our current views, expectations and beliefs concerning future events, these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Investors should note that many factors could affect our future financial results and could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Risks and uncertainties include the satisfaction of closing conditions for the acquisition, including clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act; the tender of a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock of Indevus; the possibility that the transaction will not be completed, or if completed, not completed on a timely basis; the possibility that the acquisition of Indevus is not complementary to Endo; the potential that market segment growth will not follow historical patterns; general industry conditions and competition; business and economic conditions, such as interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; technological advances and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approvals; domestic and foreign health care reforms and governmental laws and regulations; and trends toward health care cost containment; and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual reports on Form 10-K, particularly the discussion under the caption "Item 1A, RISK FACTORS" in our annual report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2007, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 29, 2008. The forward-looking statements in this press release and on the related conference call are qualified by these risk factors. These are factors that, individually or in the aggregate, we think could cause our actual results to differ materially from expected and historical results. We assume no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

SOURCE Endo Pharmaceuticals

Source: PR Newswire

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