UCB to collaborate with CRELUX and 4SC Discovery to meet unmet needs in neurology

Brussels, Belgium and Planegg-Martinsried, Germany, 11 June 2013 – UCB, 4SC and CRELUX today announced that they have started a drug discovery collaboration to identify and validate novel small molecule compounds for the treatment of neurological disorders. This collaboration fits perfectly into UCB’s strategy of building a global network of partnerships in order to bring innovative solutions to patients living with severe diseases. With this partnership, CRELUX and 4SC Discovery further build on their joint strategy to position themselves as high-quality technology and service providers in drug discovery.

Based on their joint idea-to-candidate (i2c) platform, CRELUX and 4SC Discovery will discover and optimize small molecule compounds with the goal to deliver high quality drug candidates to UCB. UCB thus aims to identify novel medicines for treatment of diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) and take them into further preclinical and clinical development.

Under this agreement a virtual screening approach based on 4SC´s proprietary 4Scan method will be performed to identify various inhibitors to the therapeutic target enzyme. Compounds identified as binders will be verified in vitro at CRELUX using their INTRACT assay capabilities. Subsequently, co-crystal structures of verified hits with the target will be solved by CRELUX to enable rational design and guide the further chemical optimization.

The i2c platform operates on a seamlessly integrated suite of technologies including virtual high throughput screening, molecular modelling, X-ray crystallography, in vitro and cell based screening medicinal chemistry and pharmacology. CRELUX and 4SC Discovery are offering integrated drug discovery services to clients from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry covering the entire value chain of early-stage pharmaceutical research and drug discovery.

Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed. This agreement further extends to an earlier successful collaboration of the three companies.

Ismail Kola, Executive Vice President, UCB & President, New Medicines, UCB said: “UCB has been steadily building a supernetwork of innovation with trusted scientific and academic partners globally. We firmly believe science progresses more rapidly when innovation is fostered by strong partnerships. By using the expertise and state of the art tools of CRELUX and 4SC, we are accessing powerful technology that should help us identify and screen new targets. These are essential to finding new drug candidates that lead to medicines which create superior and sustainable value for patients.”

Dr. Michael Schaeffer, Executive Director Strategy and Business of CRELUX GmbH, comments: “We are delighted to enter into this i2c project with such a highly prestigious pharmaceutical partner as UCB. We believe that our expertise in compound screening and crystallography will make a valuable contribution to UCB's research and development success. The i2c platform covers all necessary technologies for the discovery and optimization of small molecule drug candidates.”

Dr. Daniel Vitt, Managing Director of 4SC Discovery GmbH and Chief Scientific Officer at 4SC AG, comments: “This partnership is another great validation of the value creation potential of our i2c platform in drug discovery. We are looking forward to a repeated and successful collaboration with our valued partner CRELUX and the scientific team at UCB with their impressive expertise in neurological disorders. We will contribute to the project with our proprietary computational chemistry tools and dedicated experience of small molecule drug discovery to a successful selection of promising candidates.”

Ends

About UCB

UCB, Brussels, Belgium (www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. With 9000 people in approximately 40 countries, the company generated revenue of EUR 3.4 billion in 2012. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB).

About i2c drug discovery services (www.i2c-discovery.com)

The integrated drug discovery platform i2c (idea to candidate) was set up with the mission to enable its partners to perform their work better, faster, more efficiently and more successfully by providing a flexible, expert team and leading discovery technologies. It offers a seamless process from early concept through to a preclinical development candidate ready to advance into formal animal model testing and thereafter into clinical trials. The i2c partners are pharma companies looking to outsource part of their early discovery projects and also small and mid-size biotech companies lacking the relevant expertise and infrastructure. Besides the standard fee-for-service offerings i2c also includes research collaborations based on risk sharing models including milestones and royalties. These collaborations are provided as tailor made solutions for smaller sized companies and interested pharma partners.

4SC and CRELUX have a long and successful track record in the discovery and development of novel drugs. Both partners are adding their synergistic competencies to i2c. CRELUX is a leading company in advancing innovations in protein production, crystallography and compound screening. Next to its strong in silico screening and medicinal chemistry capacities, 4SC Discovery adds to that a team of experienced pharmacologists that has successfully brought a number of small molecule drugs from discovery to clinical trials.

About CRELUX GmbH

CRELUX (www.crelux.com) specializes in tailor made protein, in-vitro screening and protein crystallography drug discovery. The company is a professional and dedicated contract research company for the global pharma and biotech industry. CRELUX is privately owned and fully independent of external shareholders which facilitate quick decision making and efficient operations. The company is committed to long-term development and growth based on its broad portfolio of drug discovery projects and technologies that are seamlessly integrated into our i2c (idea to candidate) programs which include target to hit and concept to early development candidate projects.

CRELUX is a client focused discovery and research partner with a portfolio of premium technologies and top level protein expertise. In PRIME PROTEIN programs we are advancing innovations in protein expression to promote the availability of high quality proteins for use in drug discovery and diagnostics. Our XPRESS portfolio of readily available crystallographic targets grants turn-around times within a few weeks. The XPERT crystallography platform from concept to high resolution complex structure as well as in vitro compound and fragment screening based on our unique screening technology INTRACT are available under individual agreements.

About 4SC Discovery GmbH and 4SC Group

4SC Discovery GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of 4SC AG, specialises in the early-stage research and discovery of novel therapeutic compounds against cancer and autoimmune diseases. 4SC Discovery offers its technologies and research services to other companies and engages in partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies to accelerate the development and commercialisation of its own early-stage therapeutic programmes. 4SC Group focuses on the discovery and clinical development of targeted small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases in order to enhance patients’ quality of life. At the end of 2012, 4SC Group had 86 employees. The company was founded in 1997 and has been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since December 2005.

For further information UCB

France Nivelle, Global Communications UCB
T +32.2.559.9178, france.nivelle@ucb.com
Laurent Schots, Media Relations, UCB
T +32.2.559.9264, laurent.schots@ucb.com
Antje Witte, Investor Relations UCB
T +32.2.559.9414, antje.witte@ucb.com

For more information on 4SC or 4SC Discovery please visit www.4sc.com and www.4sc-discovery.de or contact:

4SC AG

Jochen Orlowski, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations

jochen.orlowski(at)4sc.com, Tel.: +49-89-7007-63-66

MC Services

Raimund Gabriel, Mareike Mohr

raimund.gabriel(at)mc-services.eu, Tel.: +49-89-2102-2830

mareike.mohr(at)mc-services.eu, Tel.: +49-89-2102-2840

The Trout Group

Chad Rubin

Crubin(at)troutgroup.com, Tel.: +1-646-378-2947

For more information on CRELUX please visit www.crelux.com or contact:

CRELUX GmbH

Dr. Michael Schaeffer, Executive Director Strategy & Business

schaeffer(at)crelux.com, Tel.: +49-89-7007-60-170

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