BIOCRATES and ALTANA Pharma Expand Metabolomics Collaboration

INNSBRUCK, Austria, April 6  /PRNewswire/ -- Based on successful pilot studies in high-resolution pharmacodynamics, BIOCRATES Life Sciences GmbH and ALTANA Pharma AG signed a collaboration contract comprising joint method development for targeted metabolite profiling as well as further preclinical and clinical studies.

"We are very pleased to gain an innovative pharma partner like ALTANA Pharma in one of our main business areas," said Armin Graber Ph.D., BIOCRATES' CEO. "This collaboration will broaden our analytical panel and adapt it to the needs of the pharmaceutical industry."

The medical focus of the joint projects will be on a better understanding of inflammatory processes in respiratory diseases in view of the development of novel multiparametric biomarkers for drug development and therapy monitoring.

"A targeted and quantitative approach to metabolomics allows to immediately deduce biologically relevant information from the analytical data," says Klaus Weinberger Ph.D., CSO of BIOCRATES. "Important enzymatic reactions and entire metabolic pathways can now be monitored on a fully standardized basis."

"Pilot studies in disease model characterization and pharmacodynamics have impressively demonstrated the huge potential of this technology for drug development," adds Sascha Dammeier Ph.D., Head of Protein Technologies at ALTANA Pharma AG. "We aim at exploiting this potential to obtain additional relevant mode-of-action data in many steps of preclinical and clinical drug development."

About BIOCRATES Life Sciences GmbH

BIOCRATES life sciences, a provider of high content metabolome information and technology, develops application systems and consumable-based products for pharmaceutical research and development and clinical diagnostics. The targeted metabolomics platform comprises fully automated sample preparation procedures and software linked to mass spectrometry-based analytics. The quantitative metabolite profiling approach enables routine high-content screening and standardized wide-spread use of metabolomics technology. In partnership with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and nutrition companies, BIOCRATES life sciences uses its technology to speed drug discovery processes, reduce late-stage drug attrition due to adverse reactions, discover new biomarkers and develop early tests for monitoring drug response. BIOCRATES life sciences' technology is also applied to validate and prioritize drug targets, identify novel applications for existing drugs and improve drug safety by analyzing the pharmacological and toxicological effects of a substance with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. Information about BIOCRATES life sciences is available at http://www.biocrates.at/.

About ALTANA Pharma

ALTANA Pharma AG is the pharmaceutical division of ALTANA AG (FSE: ALT), (NYSE:AAA), headquartered in Konstanz, Germany. ALTANA Pharma is an internationally successful, research-based company providing innovative

pharmaceuticals that create a higher quality of life for patients, modern jobs for highly qualified employees and a good return for shareholders.

The product range of ALTANA Pharma focuses on therapeutics for the treatment of gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases, which the company develops with intense research commitment.

Further information is available on the Internet at http://www.altanapharma.com/.

This release was issued through WebWire(R).  For more information visit http://www.webwire.com/. 

DATASOURCE: BIOCRATES Life Sciences



CONTACT:  Dr. Klaus Weinberger, CSO of BIOCRATES Life Sciences,

[phone], or 



Web site:  http://www.biocrates.at/

http://www.altanapharma.com/ 

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