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VDDI PHARMACEUTICALS
ACQUIRES MEDICAL PEPTIDE PORTFOLIO
Collaboration with Interlink Biotechnologies Cures Ills
of Peptide-Based Therapeutics
BRENTWOOD, TN
AND PRINCETON, NJ - June 12, 2003 - VDDI Pharmaceuticals,
a biopharmaceutical development company, today announced
it has acquired a portfolio of patents and patent applications
from Interlink Biotechnologies LLC (ILB) that will enable
the successful implementation of medical peptides.
Under the terms
of the agreement, VDDI claims sole and exclusive ownership
of ILB's worldwide patent portfolio for reverse antimicrobial
medical peptide technology and retains all rights for human,
veterinary and agricultural applications.
The acquisition
culminates a year-long collaborative research agreement
between VDDI and ILB that established the proof of principle
for the technology for use in human and animal infectious
diseases. Evidence from this collaboration demonstrates
the potential for this technology to enhance the stability
of medical peptides, reduce previously identified side-effect
liabilities inherent to other medical peptides, while retaining
or enhancing the antimicrobial activity of these compounds.
Based upon these results, VDDI is poised to proceed to animal
testing of lead compounds generated during the VDDI/ILB
collaboration.
"We appear
to have solved many of the major problems that have plagued
peptide-based therapeutics including poor physical and chemical
stability, short half life and high cost of goods,"
said Dr. R. Stephen Porter, President and CEO of VDDI. "As
a result of our efforts in the past year, we have truly
made significant strides in this respect."
Additionally,
terms of the agreement provide that Dr. Nicholas P. Everett,
ILB's Chief Scientific Officer, can become a member of the
Scientific Advisory Board of VDDI, as well as remain an
active consultant to the medical peptide project.
VDDI Pharmaceuticals
is a pharmaceutical development company formed to in-license
and develop therapeutic indications in the areas of infectious
disease, cancer and cardiovascular disease. VDDI targets
products that have narrow indications for life-threatening
medical conditions and that have the potential for fast
track approval. VDDI focuses on pharmaceutical products
where general proof-of-principle has been established in
pre-clinical or human testing, and where the properties
are novel and offer significant potential advantages to
what is currently either already in the market or in development.
VDDI acquires rights to compounds from both private and
public partners, pursues fast track approval, develops compounds
through Phase II of the required regulatory approval processes
and then seeks to license these products to partners for
late stage development and marketing.
Statements included
in this press release that are not historical in nature
are "forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You should be
aware that our actual results could differ materially from
those contained in the forward-looking statements, which
are based on management's current expectations and are subject
to a number of risks and uncertainties, including but not
limited to, our failure to successfully commercialize our
products, costs and delays in the development and FDA approval
of our products; our inability to enter into or maintain,
and the risks resulting from our dependence upon, collaboration
or contractual arrangements necessary for the development,
manufacture, commercialization, marketing, sales and distribution
of our products; competitive factors; our inability to protect
our patents or proprietary rights and obtain necessary rights
to third party patents and intellectual property to operate
our business; our inability to operate our business without
infringing the patents and proprietary rights of others
general economic conditions; the failure of our products
to gain market acceptance; our inability to obtain any additional
required financing; technological changes; government regulation;
changes in industry practice; and one-time events. We do
not intend to update any of these factors or to publicly
announce the results of any revisions to these forward-looking
statements.
CONTACT: R. Stephen
Porter, Pharm.D.
President and CEO
VDDI Pharmaceuticals
1616 Westgate Circle
Brentwood, TN 37027-0018
615-467-3080
rsporter@virtualdrugdevelopment.com
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