Pharmacopeia, Celgene Announce Nomination of a Novel Drug Candidate

Pharmacopeia Drug Discovery and Celgene have announced the nomination for development of a compound resulting from the ongoing collaboration between the two companies.

In the collaboration, initiated in 2003, Pharmacopeia scientists identified lead compounds -- from Pharmacopeia's proprietary collection of 7.5 million drug-like small-molecules -- acting at Celgene's inflammation-related kinase target. The optimization of the potent and selective lead compounds to a preclinical development compound took little more than a year, so that the total time taken from target selection through to development was well under two years.

Pharmacopeia is entitled to on-going payments to the extent Celgene advances the program into and through clinical development, including annual payments and milestone payments at classical value inflection points. Pharmacopeia is further entitled to royalties on commercial sales of any products resulting from this collaboration.