Isis
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISIS) announced today that iCo Therapeutics,
an Isis licensee, has filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) application
with the FDA for iCo-007, for the treatment of eye diseases including
age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). Isis
will receive a milestone payment from iCo based on this IND filing.
Designed and discovered by Isis, iCo-007 is a second-generation drug
that inhibits the production of c-Raf kinase, an enzyme associated with the
formation of new and often abnormal or fragile blood vessels in the eye.
Blood vessel breakage and leakage can contribute to vision loss
characteristic of AMD and DR.
C. Frank Bennett, Ph.D., Isis’ Senior Vice President of Research,
commented, “Our antisense drug partnering strategy continues to be
successful, enabling us to efficiently expand our pipeline and move more
antisense drug candidates into the clinic. iCo Therapeutics is a prime
example of our strategy at work, inasmuch as we have partnered an
Isis-discovered ophthalmologic drug candidate with an emerging company
building an ocular franchise. The preclinical profile (see Reference) of
iCo-007 is further evidence of the broad therapeutic applicability of Isis
technology. We’ve been very pleased with our iCo collaboration and we look
forward to continued clinical development of iCo-007.”
Reference:
Danis, R.P., M.H. Criswell, F. Orge, E.V. Wancewicz, K. Stecker, S.P.
Henry, and B.P. Monia. 2003. Intravitreous anti-raf-1 kinase antisense
oligonucleotide as an angioinhibitory agent in porcine preretinal
neovascularization. Current Eye Research 26:45.
ABOUT ISIS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
Isis is exploiting its expertise in RNA to discover and develop novel
drugs for its product pipeline and for its partners. The Company has
successfully commercialized the world’s first antisense drug and has 15
drugs in development. Isis’ drug development programs are aimed at treating
cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammatory diseases. Isis’ partners are
focused in disease areas such as ocular, viral and neurodegenerative
diseases, and cancer. In its Ibis Biosciences(TM) division, Isis is
developing and commercializing the Ibis T5000(TM) Biosensor System, a
revolutionary system to identify infectious organisms. As an innovator in
RNA-based drug discovery and development, Isis is the owner or exclusive
licensee of approximately 1,500 issued patents worldwide. Additional
information about Isis is available at isispharm.
This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding Isis
Pharmaceuticals’ business, its partnership strategies, and the therapeutic
and commercial potential of the Company’s technologies and products in
development. Any statement describing Isis’ goals, expectations, intentions
or beliefs is a forward-looking statement and should be considered an
at-risk statement, including those statements that are described as Isis’
goals. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties,
particularly those inherent in the process of discovering, developing and
commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human
therapeutics, and in the endeavor of building a business around such
products. Isis’ forward-looking statements also involve assumptions that,
if they never materialize or prove correct, could cause its results to
differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Although Isis’ forward-looking statements reflect the good
faith judgment of its management, these statements are based only on facts
and factors currently known by Isis. As a result, you are cautioned not to
rely on these forward-looking statements. These and other risks concerning
Isis’ programs are described in additional detail in Isis’ annual report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and its quarterly report on
Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2006, which are on file with
the SEC. Copies of these and other documents are available from the
Company.
Ibis T5000, Ibis Biosciences and Isis Pharmaceuticals are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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