PsychoGenics Achieves Substantial Milestone in its Drug Discovery Collaboration with Sunovion

TARRYTOWN, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

PsychoGenics today announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Sunovion's IND for SEP360, triggering a milestone payment to PsychoGenics, and that human dosing has been initiated.

In August 2007, PsychoGenics and Sunovion entered into a drug discovery and development agreement to combine their complementary strengths and expertise to identify a new generation of treatments for Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders. PsychoGenics evaluated a diverse library of compounds, using its proprietary in vivo drug discovery technology, SmartCube^®, leading to the discovery of SEP360 a new drug candidate with a novel mode of action for the treatment of certain psychiatric disorders. The FDA's Office of New Drugs, Division of Psychiatric Products has accepted Sunovion's IND thereby triggering a milestone payment to PsychoGenics.

PsychoGenics' technologies, which include its SmartCube^® system, combine broad in vivo behavioral expertise with recent developments in robotics, computer vision, and bioinformatics to evaluate drug candidates for potential utility across the spectrum of CNS disease indications. Working in partnership with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, PsychoGenics has been instrumental in identifying therapeutic potential for discontinued compounds such as Eltoprazine now in phase II trials for cognitive and motor disorders; as well as, early stage compounds with novel mechanisms of action.

SEP360 emerged from a library hit that was identified using SmartCube^® and subsequently went through chemistry lead optimization also using SmartCube^®. Extensive in vitro and in vivo testing was performed to establish that SEP360 has good efficacy and excellent pharmacological properties that differentiate the compound from existing therapies.

“We are pleased to have achieved this milestone, which further validates PsychoGenics' phenotypic approach to CNS drug discovery. We have enjoyed an excellent working relationship with the talented Sunovion discovery team and look forward to supporting the clinical development of SEP360 and pursuing other research programs together.” remarked Emer Leahy, Ph.D., PsychoGenics' President & Chief Executive Officer.

About PsychoGenics

PsychoGenics is a leader in in vivo phenotypic drug discovery. The Company applies its proprietary technology platforms in partnership with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to discover the next generation of drugs for neuropsychiatric disorders. PsychoGenics' capabilities also include standard behavioral testing, electrophysiology, molecular biology, and state-of-the-art micro-dialysis. In addition, the company offers a variety of in-licensed transgenic mouse models that support research in areas such as Huntington's disease, Autism spectrum disorders, psychosis/ schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), muscular dystrophy and other muscle disorders.