Zenobia Therapeutics Successfully Completes Initial Phase of Its Service Agreement With Syntonix Pharm...( LA JOLLA Calif. April 14 /- Zenobia T...)

LA JOLLA, Calif., April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Zenobia Therapeutics, Inc., the leader in fragment-based lead discovery for diseases of the central nervous system, announced successful completion of the first phase of its services agreement with Syntonix Pharmaceuticals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB). As part of the agreement, Syntonix gains access to Zenobia's technology and expertise in structural biology, crystallization and X-ray structure determination. Zenobia completed three unique protein structures during the first five months of the agreement. The agreement includes research funding and milestone payments.

"Syntonix challenged us with a difficult program, and through close collaboration between our scientists, we are pleased to deliver results," said Vicki Nienaber, Ph.D., President, CSO and founder of Zenobia.

The program required dedicated expertise in protein crystallization including specialized techniques and multiple rounds of optimization.

"It was a challenging target to crystallize, with more than 800 conditions being screened followed by careful optimization of multiple parameters, which was a key for successful structure determination," said Vandana Sridhar, head of Zenobia's crystallization group.

Zenobia has rapid access to high-energy synchrotron sources for data collection through an agreement with Shamrock Biostructures, located near the Advanced Photon Source (APS) in Chicago, IL.

"Synchrotron radiation was required for this program, and we are fortunate to have routine access to the only third-generation synchrotron in the U.S. through our agreement with Shamrock," said Dr. Nienaber.

"Having access to these new experimental crystal structures will allow us to more efficiently design and develop our internal drug
'/>"/>