CHDI Selects Amphora Discovery's Integrated Discovery Services In Pursuit Of Huntington Disease Cure

Main Category: Huntingtons Disease
Article Date: 19 Sep 2006 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Amphora Discovery announced today that CHDI, Inc., a non-profit organization pursuing a biotech approach to rapidly discover and develop drugs that prevent or slow Huntington Disease (HD) has signed multiple agreements that provide access to Amphora Discovery's integrated contract discovery services. HD is an inherited degenerative brain disease for which there is currently no treatment to delay or prevent its onset. CHDI partners with leading industrial and academic institutions to discover novel therapies for HD and will utilize Amphora Discovery's services and expertise in drug discovery to further this mission.

The agreements cover multiple biological targets implicated in HD and include access to Amphora Discovery's PrecisionScreen(TM), PrecisionSelect(TM) and Full Hit-to-Lead services. Utilizing its highly precise and accurate PrecisionScreen(TM) technology, Amphora Discovery will rapidly screen a large number of CHDI compounds against the implicated proteins in parallel. The high quality of the PrecisionScreen(TM) data, combined with the parallel screening of the targets, will enable the primary data to be used for direct Structure Activity Relationship (SAR) mining. This unique Amphora Discovery service avoids lengthy retest times and will enable CHDI to rapidly select and prioritize the best chemical series for further development. Amphora Discovery will then use its powerful PrecisionSelect(TM) selectivity profiling platform to further characterize the compounds of interest. Finally, CHDI and Amphora Discovery will initiate a Full Hit-to-Lead program to rapidly structurally optimize multiple chemical series against all the implicated targets in parallel.

"Amphora Discovery is a highly experienced drug discovery partner with a validated process that delivers high quality data on reduced timelines. CHDI's mission is to support projects that hold specific potential for discovery and development of practical therapeutics ready for preclinical testing within a three to five year timeframe. We believe that Amphora Discovery's optimized drug discovery process provides us with the ability to achieve this goal," said Dr. Robert Pacifici, Chief Scientific Adviser to CHDI.

"We are very pleased that CHDI has selected Amphora Discovery as a preferred partner. Amphora Discovery's PrecisionScreen(TM), PrecisionSelect(TM) and Full Hit-to-Lead services provide our customers with an integrated solution to drug discovery. Since our inception we have performed more than 100 high throughput screening campaigns and generated over 35 million data points with our validated technology platform. We look forward to using our platform and expertise to assist CHDI in their fight against HD," said Bill Janzen, Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Amphora Discovery.

About Huntington Disease (HD)

HD is a familial disease, passed from parent to child through a mutation in a gene. Each child of an HD parent has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the HD gene which causes programmed degeneration of brain cells and results in emotional disturbance, loss of intellectual faculties and uncontrolled movements. Most people with HD develop the symptoms at midlife but in some people onset occurs in infancy or old age. The average survival time after onset is approximately fifteen to twenty years. It is estimated that about one in every 10,000 persons has the HD gene. At this time, there is no way to stop or reverse the course of HD.

About CHDI, Inc. and High Q Foundation

CHDI Inc. and the High Q Foundation, Inc. (High Q) are non-profit organizations that share the mission of bringing together academia, industry, governmental agencies, and other funding organizations in the search for Huntington disease (HD) treatments.

CHDI, Inc. is pursuing a biotech approach to rapidly discover and develop drugs that prevent or slow HD. Through collaborations with industrial and academic partners, CHDI, Inc., participates in all aspects of drug discovery and development from high throughput screening to preclinical development. For more information about CHDI, Inc. and its collaborative programs please see http://www.chdi-inc.org or contact Robert Pacifici.

High Q supports HD research aimed at target identification and validation, the development and use of animal models, drug delivery, and the search for markers of disease progression. For more information about High Q and its support of HD research please see http://www.highqfoundation.org).

About Amphora Discovery Corp

Amphora Discovery Corporation is a leading biotechnology company, with two dedicated business units. The Amphora Pharma Business Unit is focused on development and out-licensing of the company's broad selection of high-value lead candidates. The Amphora Discovery Business Unit is a leading provider of integrated contract services for the pharmaceutical industry, employing cutting-edge chemogenomic, systems biology and microfluidics technologies to deliver innovative and targeted lead generation and lead optimization solutions.

Amphora Discovery Corp
http://www.amphoracorp.com
http://www.chdi-inc.org
http://www.highqfoundation.org