Astex Technology changes name to Astex Therapeutics
Cambridge, UK, 11 July 2005
Cambridge, UK, July 11th 2005. Astex Technology, the fragment based drug discovery and development company, today announced that it has changed its name to Astex Therapeutics Limited. The change has been made to reflect the continuing evolution of the Company now that a number of its ‘in-house’ discovered oncology products have progressed into full pre-clinical and clinical development. The Astex website (www.astex-therapeutics.com) has also been re-launched to reflect the new positioning as a clinical stage drug discovery and development company.
With the exception of the name change and new domain name (astex-therapeutics.com), all other details, including the Company’s UK registration number (3751674), VAT registration number (GB 743856112) address and telephone and fax numbers remain the same.
Contacts
Astex Therapeutics Limited
Jeremy Carmichael
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 226200
Email:j.carmichael@astex-therapeutics.com
Web: www.astex-therapeutics.com
Brunswick Group LLP
Jon Coles / Wendel Verbeek / Alex Tweed
Tel +44 (0) 207 404 5959
Email: astex@brunswickgroup.com
About Astex
Astex is a biotechnology company producing novel small molecule therapeutics. Using its pioneering fragment-based drug discovery approach, Astex has rapidly established a broad pipeline of next generation, molecularly-targeted oncology drugs, the first of which has received both FDA and MHRA approval to commence clinical studies in the USA and in the UK.
Astex’s leading position in fragment-based drug discovery derives from its integrated discovery engine, PyramidTM. High-throughput X-ray crystallography and other biophysical techniques are used to identify drug fragments bound to target proteins and to transform the fragments, using efficient medicinal chemistry, into potent, selective drug candidates. PyramidTM has been successfully applied across a wide variety of therapeutic targets, including those regarded as ‘intractable’ by the pharmaceutical industry, resulting in lead compounds for the potential treatment of cancer, inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease.
Astex’s unprecedented productivity in lead discovery has been endorsed by drug discovery alliances with major pharmaceutical companies including Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, sanofi-aventis, Berlex, Boehringer Ingelheim, Mitsubishi Pharma and Schering AG. Astex was established in 1999 and is well financed by leading, blue chip US and European investors (Abingworth, Advent International, Alta Partners, Apax, GIMV, HypoVereinsbank, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Schering AG and the University of Cambridge).
For further information on Astex please visit the Company’s website at www.astex-therapeutics.com