Palkion Selects Novel Oral Development Candidate for the Treatment...(lly bioavailable agent might expand usag...)

"This sooner than expected start of preclinical development studies is an affirmation of CrystalGenomics' capability to discover novel drug candidates in an efficient way and through shared responsibilities with Palkion, we will accelerate our drug development process and establish CG as a global-scale pharmaceutical firm," stated Dr. Joong-Myung Cho, President and CEO of CrystalGenomics.

"Excellent progress has been made in our collaboration with CrystalGenomics. We have now assembled an outstanding team to progress our lead candidate toward the clinic," stated Wendy Johnson, President and CEO of Palkion.

About Palkion: Palkion, Inc. is a private early stage company developing oral drugs to treat anemia based on discovery and development of oral agents that inhibit prolyl hydroxylase enzymes. The inhibition of these enzymes results in endogenous production of erythropoietin, leading to the production of red blood cells. The use of an oral agent provides convenience and dosing flexibility potentially reaching more patients than the current injectable products. The company was formed by ProQuest Investments and CrystalGenomics, Inc. in February 2008.

About CrystalGenomics: CrystalGenomics, Inc. is a novel drug discovery and development company with several developmental candidates in the areas of cancer, inflammation and novel antibiotics. The lead candidate, CG100649 is a next generation NSAID with high safety and efficacy, which recently completed phase IIa of 248 patients for osteoarthritis in Europe. CG200745 is an oral/IV HDAC inhibitor for cancer and CG400549 is a novel antibiotic against MRSA and VRSA, both of which are in pre-clinical studies in Europe. The company has competitive and proprietary platform technologies for structural biology, structure-based novel scaffold/lead design, lead optimization a
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