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Boston, MA - April 13, 2005
CombinatoRX Receives $4.4 Million Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
CombinatoRx, Incorporated, a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has been awarded a cooperative research grant of up to $4.4 million by The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The objective of the CombinatoRx research is to discover combinations of approved small molecule drugs that interact synergistically to block the adverse effects of anthrax lethal toxin. Synergistic combinations may act in a concerted fashion to simultaneously block select cellular targets and pathways exploited by the toxin. Using its proprietary combination high-throughput screening system (cHTS), CombinatoRx will seek to identify potential anti-toxin therapeutics that could be used to alleviate the life-threatening symptoms associated with anthrax exposure.
In cases where anthrax is used as a biological weapon, most recently in the United States in 2001, the infection is achieved through inhalation of airborne spores. Once inhaled, the anthrax spores generate a toxin producing bacteria. This toxin is responsible for the severe symptoms and death associated with anthrax exposure. Generally, by the time a patient exhibits symptoms of an anthrax infection the critical level of toxin has already been reached.
Currently, there are no therapeutics specifically approved for the treatment of exposure to anthrax toxin. By working with combinations of approved drugs, CombinatoRx will seek to discover a novel therapy that can be moved quickly and efficiently into the clinic, thereby providing a new approach to an urgent problem. Under the terms of the National Institute of Health grant, CombinatoRx will own all intellectual property and retain all global commercialization rights for new products.
About CombinatoRx
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 and metabolic disease. By applying our proprietary screening technology, we have 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.
Forward Looking Statement:
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning CombinatoRx’s plans for research and development programs and the performance of the NIH grant. CombinatoRx may not be successful in identifying or developing anti-anthrax therapeutics and may be unable to perform under the NIH grant.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding CombinatoRx, Incorporated's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding the Company’s ability to identify anti-toxin therapeutics and to advance novel therapies based on these therapeutics into the clinic . Forward-looking statements can be identified by, among other things, the use of forward looking language, such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “future,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “should,” “seeks,” “potential,” “will,” or the negative of those terms, or other variations of those terms of comparable language, or by discussions of strategy or intentions. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested in the forward looking statements including, but not limited to, the ability of CombinatoRx to: (i) successfully identify or develop new therapeutic agents, or (ii) successfully conduct preclinical and clinical trials of product candidates. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release and CombinatoRx assumes no obligation or responsibility to update or revise the statements. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in CombinatoRx’s Registration Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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