4SC AG — M&A Activity 2006

Dec 12, 2006

News Details

Corporate | 12 December 2006 10:00

Schwarz Pharma transfers project rights to 4SC

Planegg-Martinsried, Germany 12 December 2006 – Today the drug discovery and development company 4SC AG (Frankfurt, Prime Standard: VSC), based in Martinsried, Germany announced that Schwarz Pharma AG, due to its new strategic positioning, has stopped its R&D activities in the area of urology and transferred in full the respective project rights from a research cooperation that started in September 2003 to 4SC AG.

The first cooperation project initialised together with 4SC AG had the goal of providing new drug candidates for the medicinal treatment of urological illnesses. Within the scope of the cooperation, from which the lead compound SC76803 emerged, 4SC AG, with the use of its technology platform, successfully identified highly active and selective substances against the target structure provided by Schwarz Pharma AG. Due to its new strategic positioning, Schwarz Pharma ended this cooperation project after reaching a significant milestone, which once again resulted in respective payments to 4SC AG, and completely transferred the project rights in exchange for a share in potential license earnings in an undisclosed amount.

Now the goal of 4SC AG is to accompany the project until it is ready for marketing hand in hand with a capable cooperation partner, whose therapeutic focus lies in urological and metabolic illnesses. ‘In the meantime, the project has reached a stage in which it is also of great interest for potential licensees,’ emphasised Ulrich Dauer, CEO of 4SC AG. The milestone reached most recently was a real success, as significant criteria from the originally planned objectives of this collaborative project with Schwarz Pharma have already been fulfilled.

At the same time, both companies are starting a new research cooperation in the indication area of the central nervous system, which will be also a strategic focus for Schwarz Pharma in the future.

The Management Board of 4SC AG welcomed Schwarz Pharma’s decision to work with their company in the future as well. ‘This confirms the added value that we can offer cooperation partners with our technology platform in the most diverse indication areas,’ commented Daniel Vitt, CSO of 4SC AG.

About SC76803

4SC AG has succeeded in developing a new substance class with excellent efficacy for a target relevant for treating incontinence, obesity and diabetes. The lead compound, SC76803, has an EC50 in the picomolar range and a high selectivity towards other closely related receptors. The selectivity towards approx. 40 other relevant targets also proved to be very high. Physiochemical properties and the bioavailability make the substance an excellent candidate for further studies and organ models. The efficacy has already been impressively proven in a tissue study on human bladder muscles.

About 4SC AG

4SC AG (ISIN DE0005753818) has been listed in the Prime Standard of Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 15 December 2005. Founded in 1997 and now with a staff of 59, the company develops novel drug candidates for inflammatory diseases and cancer using a cheminformatics based technology platform. Traditional high throughput screening of therapeutic agents has been transferred from the lab to the computer. Thus, the company offers substantial cost and time advantages as well as increased success rates in drug development. 4SC AG uses its patented technology platform to create a sustainable product pipeline for active agents that are developed in early clinical phases (‘proof of concept’) and subsequently result in upfront and milestone payments as well as participation in sales generated by out-licensed products to the pharmaceutical industry. There are currently five projects in the pipeline. The first project on the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is currently undergoing clinical phase IIa. Three other product candidates are in pre-clinical development and another project is in the research stage. Furthermore, the company has its technology platform in co-operation projects with biotech and pharma companies and is already generating initial revenues.

**Legal note

**This document may contain forecasts, estimates and assumptions concerning business plans and goals, products and services and future results or assumptions based on or relating to them. Any statements about the future are subject to risks and uncertainty that are not predictable and are beyond the control of 4SC AG. Many factors may cause the actual results to differ substantially from the results contained in such statements about the future.