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ImQuest BioSciences and Arisyn Therapeutics Announce Strategic Partnership to Develop Infectious Disease and Cancer Drugs

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 April 2009, 10:15 CDT

FREDERICK, Md., April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- ImQuest BioSciences and Arisyn Therapeutics jointly announced today that they have entered into a strategic drug development partnership to provide support necessary to develop Arisyn's portfolio of novel inhibitors for the treatment of infectious disease and cancer. Arisyn has recently announced its acquisition of a series of inhibitors with demonstrated preclinical efficacy against HIV, HCV, HTLV-I, influenza virus, herpes viruses and cancer. These inhibitors were originally discovered and developed by The Proctor & Gamble Company. Lead molecules from the portfolio have already been evaluated in Phase 1 human clinical trials for the treatment of HIV and cancer, and an IND-application has been prepared for submission to the FDA to initiate trials for HCV therapy.

"The Arisyn compounds represent an entirely new treatment paradigm by effectively suppressing the ability of the HIV or HCV-infected cells to act as the factories of progeny virus production," stated Robert W. Buckheit, Jr., Ph.D., Director of Research and Development for Arisyn and President and Chief Scientific Officer of ImQuest BioSciences. "The compounds have proven efficacy and safety in preclinical studies and their successful development will be of immense benefit to the millions of individuals living with HIV and HCV infection."

ImQuest BioSciences, a Contract Research service provider specializing in the discovery and development of anti-infective and anti-cancer agents, will provide all required support to initiate human clinical trials with lead products ATI-0312 for HIV and ATI-0810 for HCV and will initiate mechanistic studies to define the unique virus transcription inhibitory mechanism of action of the class of inhibitors. ImQuest will also lead Arisyn's efforts to develop next generation inhibitors from structure activity relationship studies and target-based drug design programs.

"This partnership is an important step in the development of our portfolio. ImQuest BioSciences brings a broad range of expertise and a wealth of experience to Arisyn," said Eric Zucco, President of Arisyn. "After years of pre-clinical evaluations, we now look to Imquest BioSciences to guide these compounds into and through human clinical trials."

About Arisyn Therapeutics Inc.

Arisyn Therapeutics Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company focused on the clinical development of small molecule therapeutics for infectious diseases and cancer. Arisyn's strategy is to develop novel inhibitors with unique mechanisms of action for chronic diseases without effective therapeutic options such as HIV, hepatitis, and cancer. Arisyn Therapeutics Inc. is based in Frederick, Maryland and is on the web at http://www.Arisyn.com.

About ImQuest BioSciences, Inc.

ImQuest BioSciences, a privately held U.S. company located in Frederick, Maryland is a leading provider of anti-infective therapeutic and microbicide development and anti-cancer services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. ImQuest has broad based capabilities to assist companies with the discovery and preclinical development of new therapeutics, vaccines and preventatives, as well as the management of IND-directed programs for the evaluation of active products in human clinical trials. ImQuest is on the web at http://www.imquest.com.

SOURCE ImQuest Life Sciences, Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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