NEWS BRIEFS
San Diego, CALIF. — Trega Biosciences, Inc., focused on commercializing technologies and products for accelerating drug discovery and development, announced that Aventis Pharma AG has taken an initial license to its iDEA predictive model for drug absorption. Under the terms of the license, Aventis plans to utilize Trega’s absorption module in its drug discovery activities and provide Trega with information pertaining to performance and ease of use of the model. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Our work with Aventis during the upcoming months will provide Trega with valuable information to further enhance the performance of the absorption module. We look forward to obtaining this input from Aventis as they advance their key drug discovery programs,” said Michael G. Grey, President and CEO. Mr. Grey went on to say “we intend to continue to accelerate development of our iDiscovery family of technologies toward commercialization. This license, Trega’s eighth, reflects those efforts and we look forward to the rapid launch of our metabolism module by the end of 2000.”
Trega’s “software” models, called iDEA, are designed to impact the drug discovery and development process by providing scientists with reliable tools to evaluate potential drug candidates in a fraction of the time it takes currently, and therefore at a fraction of the cost. The iDEA predictive model, an acronym for In Vitro Determination for the Estimation of ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion), was developed by Trega with a consortium of prominent pharmaceutical companies. The absorption module was constructed to simulate the physiological process of drug absorption, and incorporates human physiological parameters. The module is trained with a proprietary database of in vitro and human in vivo pharmacokinetic data for selected drugs and drug candidates, including many that failed in the development process. This training set of compounds is unique in that it represents a very diverse set of drug properties. Trega plans to introduce a metabolism module at the end of this year and subsequently intends to develop additional modules that will enable the complete prediction of bioavailability.
Trega Biosciences, Inc. is a premier provider of products that accelerate and improve drug discovery through its iDiscovery technologies linking biology and chemistry with information technologies. Trega’s iDEA family of information-based models simulate, in silico, how drug candidates will be processed in the body, thereby enabling selection of those with optimal characteristics for clinical development. Together with its iDEA products, Trega’s ChemFolio(R) libraries of information-enhanced small molecules are designed to facilitate the identification and optimization of drug candidates. For additional information on Trega, please visit http://www.trega.com .
Aventis is a world leader in life sciences. Focused on two core business areas – pharmaceuticals and agriculture – Aventis is dedicated to improving life through the discovery and development of innovative products in the fields of prescription drugs, vaccines, therapeutic proteins, crop production and protection, animal health and nutrition. For more information visit http://www.aventis.com .
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