Kinaxo Biotechnologies GmbH Martinsried, Germany, 24thJuly 2008.

Kinaxo Biotechnologies GmbH announced today that it was awarded a 575,000 Euro grant by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology to help expand the applications for its chemical proteomics platform. Chemical proteomics enables a comprehensive assessment of the native cellular proteome interactions and selectivity of small molecule drug candidates. Kinaxo will use the funding to demonstrate how its platform can be employed to identify the native protein targets of compounds found in cell-based ('phenotypic') drug discovery screens.

Over the past decade, many biopharmaceutical companies have built their drug research and development programs around a high throughput screening approach, testing large libraries of chemical entities over a few validated protein targets. In oncology programs, the ability of human cancers to 'mutate' and consequently overcome single target inhibition strategies means many drug development companies are taking a 'phenotypic' approach by first screening compounds for a particular desired cellular response prior to honing in on the specific target(s).

Once a promising cellular response is observed, the targets or proteins that interact with the compound must then be identified. Defining the native cellular environment mode of action of promising new compounds is invaluable towards the further development of a therapeutic strategy. However to date this has proved to be a very challenging task.

Kinaxo's Cellular Target Profiling technology will help support phenotypic-based drug discovery not only through the identification of the compound target(s) but also by defining the affinities of these interactions. This is achieved by direct interrogation of the entire cellular proteome representing a particular disease model. Kinaxo's Cellular Target Profiling technology was originally developed at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany.

Dr. Andreas Jenne, Kinaxo's CEO commented: "This funding will allow us to significantly expand the scope and utility of our chemical proteomics capability, helping to demonstrate further valuable applications for broad adoption in the field of small molecule drug development."

About KINAXO

Kinaxo's chemical proteomics platform combines optimized affinity isolation techniques with state-of-the-art quantitative mass spectrometry capabilities. Information on a compound's cellular target interactions provides valuable insights into its mode of action, enabling more informed decisions regarding which lead compounds to progress into clinical trials.

Kinaxo Biotechnologies is a privately-held biotechnology company based in Munich/Martinsried, Germany. As a spin-off of the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Kinaxo offers extensive experience in cellular target profiling with several pharmaceutical and biotechnology company collaborations ongoing, including with UCB Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Takeda. Kinaxo is financed by European investors BioM, High-Tech Gründerfonds, KfW, Max Planck Society, and Mountain Partners.

Contact

Dr. Andreas Jenne Managing Director, CEO KINAXO Biotechnologies GmbH Am Klopferspitz 19a 82152 Martinsried, Germany www.kinaxo.com

Phone: +49 89 461 33 63 11 Email: info@kinaxo.de



LINK: http://hugin.info/136847/R/1237960/264687.pdf

Kinaxo Biotechnologies GmbH

http://www.kinaxo.de

Stock Identifier: GER.KIN0710

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