Argenta Discovery Announces Two-Year Extension of Major Drug Discovery Collaboration with Genentech

Argenta Discovery Ltd. has announced that it has extended its integrated contract drug discovery agreement with Genentech, Inc. for a further two-year period.

The first collaboration project under the agreement was announced in December 2005, and a second project was entered into in March 2007. The two programmes utilize Argenta's expertise in computer-aided drug design (CADD), medicinal chemistry, and in vitro biology and screening to discover new chemical entities acting against undisclosed drug targets defined by Genentech.

Commenting on the extended agreements, Dr. Christopher Ashton, Argenta’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are delighted that Genentech has chosen to extend the collaboration for another two years. The two projects have made excellent progress and a good working relationship has been established between both teams of scientists over the past two years.

We believe this extension illustrates Argenta’s key strengths and continued commitment to deliver high quality, time- and cost-effective integrated drug discovery services and expertise. We very much look forward to continuing and growing our successful collaboration with Genentech.”

Financial terms of the deal, which incorporates a number of funded FTEs at Argenta for the next two years, were not disclosed. The agreement provides further options to expand the relationship.