Cellzome Receives Ortho-McNeil Milestone for AD Program

Cellzome, Inc. has received the first milestone payment from Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc. for its Gamma Secretase Modulator (GSM) program in connection with the selection of a lead compound by Ortho-McNeil. The two companies entered into a collaboration and license agreement in May 2005 and it was extended for a further year in January 2007.

Tim Edwards, Cellzome’s chief executive officer, said, “I am delighted with the progress we have made in our collaboration. This milestone payment is a reflection of the continued productivity of Cellzome’s drug discovery group in working with our collaborator to advance toward preclinical development a potential oral therapeutic for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and further demonstrates the utility of our leading chemical proteomics technology.”