Sareum Announces Extension of Collaboration with Almirall

Sareum Holdings plc and Almirall Prodesfarma S.A. have announced that they have extended their collaborative agreement for Sareum to provide protein structure determination capabilities to accelerate drug discovery research at Almirall.

Following completion of the collaboration announced in August 2005, Sareum will continue to utilise its skills in protein structure determination with the aim of further illustrating the nature of how Almirall’s potential drug candidates interact with their target proteins.

This information has been of great assistance to Almirall’s scientists in their design of improved therapeutics against inflammatory diseases.

Commenting on the agreement, Sareum’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell, said, "We are delighted that Almirall have chosen to continue with Sareum as a partner in protein structure determination."

"We seek to deliver the highest quality research services to our clients, and maintaining relationships with important customers such as Almirall is clear evidence of our success in doing this."

Commenting on the agreement, Almirall’s, Executive Director for the R&D area, Per-Olof Andersson, said, "The resolution of the crystal structure of compound-protein complexes has permitted the elucidation of the mode of binding of different compound families to the target protein."

"This has been an inestimable help in the design of novel potential drug candidates with greater potency and selectivity for this therapeutic target in rheumatoid arthritis."

"We are, therefore, pleased to extend our successful collaboration with Sareum, so that our scientists can continue to rely on this powerful research tool."