Cellular Genomics receives European patent for general methods for discovering enzyme inhibitors.

Cellular Genomics, Inc. (Branford, CT) has been granted European Patent 1140938, which covers general methods for discovering enzyme inhibitors, as well as methods and compositions of a class of specific inhibitors of protein kinases, a major class of drug targets. The Company was granted a

"This additional patent for our proprietary kinase technology helps to secure our commercial position in both the key United States and European markets," said Louis Matis, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Cellular Genomics. "Over the past 12 months, we have been very active with partnering efforts for our core technology, establishing research collaborations with major pharmaceutical and biotech companies such as Pfizer, Inc, Serono S.A. and Schering AG. In addition, we have made significant strides in developing this technology for accelerating our own internal drug discovery and development initiatives, where we have generated potent, selective lead compounds in three distinct programs that are being advanced toward the clinic for multiple clinical indications in cancer and autoimmune and inflammatory disease."

Cellular Genomics's cutting-edge approach is based on the discovery of Analog Sensitive Kinase Alleles (ASKAs). ASKAs are genetically modified kinases that retain all the functions of normal kinases, but can be potently inhibited with exquisite specificity by proprietary small molecule analog inhibitors. Cellular Genomics holds the exclusive worldwide license to this broadly enabling chemical genetics technology, which is being directly applied to multiple facets of the drug discovery process. These include cell pathway based target identification, rigorous, pharmaceutically relevant in vivo target validation, proprietary drug screens, and in vivo systems that provide key therapeutic index and drug safety information to guide the selection of optimal drug candidates for clinical development.

The inventor of the technology is Dr. Kevan Shokat, formerly a professor at Princeton University (Princeton, NJ) and currently at the University of California, San Francisco (San Francisco, CA). Dr. Shokat is one of Cellular Genomics' scientific founders and a member of the Cellular Genomics Scientific Advisory Board.

Cellular Genomics is a privately held genomics-based biopharmaceutical company that is pioneering a unique, highly integrated chemical genetics platform for drug discovery and development. The company has established small molecule drug discovery programs focused on discovering and developing signal transduction inhibitors for the treatment of autoimmune/inflammatory diseases and cancer.