PsychoGenics Achieves A Milestone In Drug Discovery Collaboration With Sunovion

TARRYTOWN, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PGI Drug Discovery LLC (PsychoGenics), announced that Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. filed an IND for SEP-378608 triggering a milestone payment to PsychoGenics in its drug discovery and development collaboration.

“We look forward to advancing many more programs into the clinic and following the clinical progress of SEP-363856 and SEP-378608.”

The compound, SEP-378608 is the second compound to enter clinical development; the first SEP-363856 is an investigational psychotropic agent with a novel mechanism of action that is being studied in Phase II clinical trials as a treatment for patients with schizophrenia and for Parkinson’s disease psychosis.

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 neuropsychiatric disorders. Using its proprietary in vivo drug discovery technologies, including its SmartCube^® system, PsychoGenics evaluated a library of Sunovion compounds, leading to the discovery of several new drug candidates with novel modes of action including SEP-363856 and SEP-378608.

“We have been extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work closely with the talented discovery team at Sunovion. Our partnership with Sunovion has resulted in several discovery programs, all discovered phenotypically with novel mechanisms of action. The programs are expected to offer patients much needed treatment options for debilitating CNS disorders,” remarked Emer Leahy, Ph.D., PsychoGenics President & CEO. “We look forward to advancing many more programs into the clinic and following the clinical progress of SEP-363856 and SEP-378608.”

PsychoGenics’ SmartCube®, NeuroCube®, and PhenoCube® drug discovery platforms combine broad in vivo behavioral expertise with 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 both for discontinued compounds and for compounds with novel mechanisms of action.

About PsychoGenics

PsychoGenics is a leader in in vivo phenotypic drug discovery. The Company’s capabilities include behavioral testing, electrophysiology, translational EEG, quantitative histology, molecular biology, and microdialysis. Complementing its extensive capabilities, the company offers to its clients a variety of proprietary mouse models including in-licensed transgenic models that support research in areas such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, autism spectrum disorders, psychosis/schizophrenia, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular disorders. PsychoGenics has also pioneered the translation of rodent behavioral responses into robust, high throughput, and high content phenotyping. Its drug discovery platforms, SmartCube®, NeuroCube®, and PhenoCube® have been used in shared risk partnerships with major pharma companies such as Sunovion and Roche and has resulted in the discovery of several novel compounds now in clinical trials or advanced preclinical development.