Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

[Archemix and Eyetech]
Speaking of coattails…

[This collaboration appears to accomplish two things: 1) It gives EYET a pipeline; and 2) It improves Archemix’s posture for an IPO. For a company planning an IPO, what could be better than an alliance with a company which just conducted its own hugely successful IPO?]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040414/nyw007a_1.html

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Eyetech and Archemix Announce Collaboration to Discover and Develop Therapeutic Aptamers for Ophthalmology

Collaboration will provide a broad pipeline of compounds to treat diseases of the eye

NEW YORK and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: EYET) and Archemix Corp. announced today an exclusive agreement to collaborate on the research and development of aptamers for ophthalmic indications.

Under the terms of the agreement, Archemix and Eyetech will exclusively collaborate to discover new aptamers for use in the treatment of ophthalmic diseases. Included in the collaboration are optimized aptamers in the existing Archemix pipeline portfolio directed at ophthalmology targets, as well as new aptamers discovered through the use of Archemix's proprietary SELEX process. Archemix also has the option to propose future aptamers discovered outside of this collaboration for inclusion in the program for the treatment of ophthalmic indications.

Through the collaboration, Eyetech will gain access to a major proprietary research platform for generating future optimized lead compounds for development in ophthalmology. The agreement allows Eyetech to quickly expand its pipeline. Eyetech will have the responsibility for all clinical development activities, and will have the right to commercialize all program aptamers for ophthalmologic indications.

Archemix received an undisclosed upfront payment from Eyetech. Archemix will also receive payments for achievement of certain research and development milestones, and royalties on net sales of all products resulting from the collaboration. Eyetech also will provide support for efforts carried out by Archemix in support of the collaboration.

"Eyetech is pleased to announce this important deal, which provides a powerful drug platform and expands our pipeline," stated Dr. David Guyer, Chief Executive Officer of Eyetech Pharmaceuticals. "Archemix is the leader in the creation of therapeutic aptamers; a drug class that we believe will rapidly grow in importance. The collaboration capitalizes on our existing expertise in the development and manufacturing and characterization of aptamers, as well as strategically complements our leading pre-clinical back of the eye laboratory and proven capability in clinical development of important medicines for back of the eye diseases. For a company our size, we are unique in that we now have all the relevant pieces in place to develop, manufacture and commercialize novel drugs."

"For Archemix, this agreement demonstrates the value of our broad intellectual property estate and expertise in therapeutic aptamers," stated Dr. Errol De Souza, President and Chief Executive Officer of Archemix. "Under this agreement, we licensed the rights to certain aptamers for use in ophthalmology, which is not an area of internal focus for Archemix. Importantly, we were able to achieve this without compromising our core focus on the development of therapeutic aptamers for oncology, inflammation and cardiovascular indications. We are extremely pleased to be associated with Eyetech. Through their Macugen(TM) program, Eyetech has developed proven expertise in the development of drugs for ophthalmology and validated aptamers as important therapeutics. Furthermore, Eyetech is in the process of establishing a substantial marketing capability for the commercialization of Macugen."

Eyetech's lead compound Macugen, which is being developed with Pfizer Inc. for the treatment of diseases of the back of the eye, is an example of an aptamer-based ophthalmic therapeutic. Macugen met its primary endpoint in replicate pivotal Phase 2/3 trials, and is on track for filing with the FDA in the third quarter of 2004 for treating all types of the wet form of Age- related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in developed countries in people over 50 years of age. In addition, Eyetech and Pfizer are conducting a Phase 2 clinical trial for the use of Macugen for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME), a leading cause of blindness in younger people.

Aptamers are single-stranded nucleic acids that form well-defined three- dimensional shapes, binding target molecules in a manner conceptually similar to antibodies. Aptamers have a number of desirable characteristics for use as therapeutics, including clinically demonstrated biological efficacy, high specificity and affinity, and excellent pharmacokinetic properties.

Aptamers, as a class, are well-suited for development in ophthalmology. They have demonstrated favorable immunogenicity or toxicity, are highly stable molecules and are chemically synthesized, allowing for lower cost and easily- scaled production.

About Archemix Corp.

Archemix Corp. is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company's mission is to develop aptamers as a new class of directed therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of chronic and acute disease. Because of their unique properties, aptamers promise to provide a superior alternative to conventional therapeutic approaches and can potentially be used in a wide range of disease areas, including many of those currently addressed by protein-based therapeutics.

Archemix's aptamer expertise is complimented by a dominant patent estate comprised of over 170 issued and 170 pending patents covering the identification and use of all new therapeutic aptamers. In addition to the company's core aptamer technology, Archemix possesses strong expertise in both preclinical and clinical drug development. Further information about Archemix can be found at http://www.archemix.com.
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