Rigel and Proteros renew X-ray protein crystallography collaboration

Martinsried, Germany, July 12, 2011. Proteros Biostructures GmbH (“Proteros”) announced today that it has renewed its agreement with Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Rigel) to provide structural biology services for a Rigel drug discovery program.

Under this agreement, Proteros will provide X-ray structure analysis of protein-compound complexes for specific targets to support Rigel’s discovery efforts. Proteros will deploy its high throughput crystallography platform and proprietary technologies.

Proteros focuses on providing structure based drug discovery services and continues to invest in developing its service platform which consists of X-ray protein crystallography, kinetic and thermodynamic compound profiling and integrated lead discovery based on a novel compound and fragment library of over 30,000 novel target directed molecules.

Cony D’Cruz, CBO and President of Proteros (US) Inc. said: “This agreement continues the long-standing structural biology collaboration between the two companies. We are pleased to be supporting Rigel with its pioneering research efforts.”

About Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc.:
Rigel is a clinical-stage drug development company that discovers and develops novel, small-molecule drugs for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, as well as muscle disorders. Rigel's pioneering research focuses on intracellular signaling pathways and related targets
that are critical to disease mechanisms. Rigel's productivity has resulted in strategic collaborations with large pharmaceutical partners to develop and market its product candidates. Current product development programs include fostamatinib (R788), an oral syk inhibitor in phase 3 clinical trials for rheumatoid arthritis (w/AstraZeneca), and R343, an inhaled syk inhibitor that is in clinical trials for asthma.

About Proteros biostructures GmbH:
Proteros is a privately held company that provides services and proprietary technologies to support integrated drug discovery. Proteros uses its technical expertise, industrial processes and unique technologies for crystallography, kinetic and thermodynamic profiling and fragment-based lead generation incorporating protein structure inspired compound and fragment libraries. The platform enables ‘knowledge driven lead engineering’ to accelerate and improve protein structure analysis and structure-based drug discovery. Proteros complements its clients’ internal capabilities with external expertise and access to flexible resources. Proteros currently provides services to more than 80 pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients in North America, Europe and Asia. Proteros US, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Proteros established to serve the growing customer base in North America.

Proteros biostructures GmbH
Dr. Thomas Waldmann
Am Klopferspitz 19
82152 Martinsried
Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 89 7007 61 - 0
Fax: +49 (0) 89 7007 61 - 15
Email: business@proteros.com
Website: www.proteros.com

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Mr. Raul R. Rodriguez
President and Chief Operating Officer
1180 Veterans Blvd.
South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
Phone: + 1 650 624 1100
Fax: + 1 650 624 1101
Email: invrel@rigel.com
Website: www.rigel.com

This release was published on openPR.