Novasite Pharmaceuticals and the Stanley Medical Research Institute Announce Alliance to Discover Novel Allosteric Modulator Drugs for Schizophrenia

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2004--Novasite Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Novasite) and The Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI), a foundation dedicated to fund research in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, today announced an alliance to discover novel drugs to treat unmet medical needs in schizophrenia. SMRI will provide clinical guidance and fund research at Novasite, who will discover allosteric modulator drugs for schizophrenia acting on a validated G-Protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR) target. Dr. Michael Knable, the Executive Director of SMRI, and Dr. John Davis, a distinguished member of the SMRI's Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), have joined Novasite's SAB to guide its clinical efforts in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

"Our partnership with Novasite continues The Stanley Foundation's commitment to bring novel drugs into the clinic by providing funding and clinical input to emerging biotechnology companies with high potential for success," stated Michael Knable, Executive Director of SMRI. "We see a potential for Novasite's unique approach to discover certain allosteric modulator drugs that could address important unmet medical needs in schizophrenia."

"Novasite highly values the clinical guidance in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders that the prestigious SMRI can provide, and we welcome Drs. Knable and Davis to our SAB," said Juan Ballesteros, Chief Scientific Officer of Novasite. "Our multidisciplinary approach can uniquely address the key challenges of screening the function of allosteric modulators and provide structural information to guide medicinal chemistry. Novasite is thus positioned to become a leader in this emerging field of GPCR drugs." Kathryn Rucker, VP Finance & Corporate Development, added that, "With the first allosteric modulator drug for a GPCR approved this year, this has become an area of very high interest by the pharmaceutical community, and represents a fast-growing market focus for Novasite."

Allosteric modulators are drugs that modulate the response of the natural ligand by binding at a regulatory site that is different from the normal binding site of the receptor. They represent a safer mechanism of action because they mimic the body's own ligands. Their effect is confined to those cells in the body where the natural ligand and receptor are present, and their limited maximal effect may prevent overdose, tolerance, abuse and dependence. Novasite's Single Cell Structure-Function approach is uniquely capable of discovering GPCR allosteric modulators, a novel and safer mechanism of action for GPCR drugs.

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are the major psychiatric disorders in the United States, affecting more than 4 million people. Until recently, little research had been done on these diseases, and the treatment of them was unsatisfactory. The neuroscience revolution has brought with it great opportunities for increased understanding of brain diseases. SMRI is on the leading edge of this exciting research.

The Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI)

SMRI is a nonprofit organization that supports research on the causes and treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), both through work carried out in our own laboratories and through support of researchers worldwide who are working on these diseases. Since 1989, when SMRI research programs began, over $160 million has been provided to make this research possible.

SMRI is the largest private provider of research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in the United States. SMRI funds approximately half of all U.S. research on bipolar disorder and approximately one quarter of the research on schizophrenia. In addition, it is a major provider of research on these diseases in England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Israel, and Australia.

Novasite Pharmaceuticals

Novasite Pharmaceuticals has developed an integrated "Single Cell Structure-Function" approach to enable the discovery of allosteric modulators and difficult agonist drugs targeting G-Protein Coupled Receptors ("GPCRs"). Allosteric modulation is a novel and safer mechanism of action for GPCR drugs. This novel high-growth market has become a major focus for pharmaceutical companies because it combines the best mechanism of action of a drug with the most important family of drug targets, GPCRs. Novasite's proprietary approach is uniquely capable of solving the key technical challenges in discovering GPCR allosteric modulators; Single Cell Screening enables functional detection of these effects, and the Structure-Function approach provides structural information to guide medicinal chemistry. Furthermore, Novasite's breakthrough crystallography approach may enable elucidation of the complete 3D structures of these receptors. For more information, please visit www.Novasite.com.