Empiriko, Interchim Sign Partnership Agreement

By leveraging the powerful combination of Empiriko's game-changing chemosynthetic livers and Interchim's innovative instrumentation and expertise in the field of liquid chromatography, pharmaceutical scientists can now predict metabolism patterns, pathways and profiles -- all while generating a complete spectrum of oxidative metabolites for specific drugs and reducing the time for each experiment from weeks to hours. Additionally, scientists and clinicians can quickly identify interactions involving metabolite attenuation and suppression, and evaluate the genotoxicity, drug-to-drug interactions and efficacy associated with adding a new drug to a patient's drug regimen. Interchim's latest PuriFlash® instruments incorporate a mass spectrometer which allows near real-time product separation and structural elucidation of purified compounds and is ideally suited to support Empiriko's Biomimiks technology.

"Our partnership with Interchim represents an important step forward for both companies," said Mukund Chorghade, Empiriko's Chief Scientific Officer. "We are able to offer more comprehensive drug discovery and clinical research solutions and results. Together we will accelerate the delineation of metabolism profiles, enable prediction and scale-up of products and offer scientists a valuable tool for rapid separation and quantification of products. We look forward to working with Interchim to advance the boundaries of DMPK studies."

Also under the agreement, Empiriko will provide input to Interchim with regard to the design of future instrumentation for ex-vivo studies geared toward personalized patient treatment. Empiriko's unprecedented approach to drug testing will drive efficiencies and cost savings, helping pharmaceutical companies realize the next generation of discoveries.

"In a manner of minutes, we were able to generate and isolate metabolites for pharmaceutical entities using Empiriko's Biomimiks™ catalyst and our PuriFlash instrument," added Geoff Todosiev, President of Interchim, Inc. "It was remarkable to observe our instruments being used in such an innovative manner. This partnership opens a whole new market for Interchim's instruments to be used in new applications and we're excited about our ongoing work together."

"Pharmaceutical companies are eager to propel advances in drug discovery and clinical development under continued budget and timeline constraints, and we're determined to help alleviate these top challenges," said Pam Randhawa, Empiriko's CEO. "Interchim's technology will play an important role in helping us fulfill our vision throughout the entire drug lifecycle -- evaluating new chemical entities for drug discovery and clinical trials, as well as personalized patient treatment. No doubt we are working under a new paradigm -- and it is an incredibly exciting time."