Heptares Achieves First Research Milestone in Research Collaboration with Cubist

WELWYN GARDEN CITY, England and BOSTON, July 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

StaR® Generated to Important GPCR Target Selected by Cubist

Heptares Therapeutics, the leading GPCR drug discovery and development company, announces it has achieved the first research milestone in its collaboration with Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST), which was announced in January 2013. The milestone is based on the generation of a stabilised (StaR®) form of a GPCR target selected by Cubist, a key step that will enable the structure of the target to be elucidated and a full structure-based drug design (SBDD) programme to be launched.

Cubist will make an undisclosed payment to Heptares as a result of this research milestone being achieved. Under the terms of the agreement, the collaboration is focusing on up to two GPCR drug targets to be selected by Cubist. Heptares has already received US$5.5 million upfront for the first target, and is eligible to receive up to approximately US$4 million in research funding plus milestones and royalties. Cubist also has the option to nominate a second GPCR target at a later point in the collaboration, which Heptares has agreed to work on according to pre-determined financials. Further terms of the agreement are not disclosed.

To date, Heptares has achieved all scientific milestones in its collaborations on or ahead of schedule, highlighting the power of its GPCR-focused platform. The structural information that Heptares can routinely access for a range of validated drug targets is being used to advance SBDD programmes and to develop lead candidates in multiple disease indications both in house and with partners.

About Heptares Therapeutics

Heptares creates new medicines targeting clinically important, yet historically challenging, GPCRs (G protein-coupled receptors), a superfamily of drug receptors linked to a wide range of human diseases. Leveraging our advanced structure-based drug design technology platform, we have built an exciting discovery and development pipeline of novel drug candidates, which have the potential to transform the treatment of serious diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, migraine and diabetes. Our pharmaceutical partners include Shire, AstraZeneca, MedImmune, Morphosys, Takeda and Cubist, and we are backed by Clarus Ventures, MVM Life Science Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, the Stanley Family Foundation and Takeda Ventures. To learn more about Heptares, please visit http://www.heptares.com

About G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)

The GPCR superfamily is the largest and single most important family of drug targets in the human body. It plays a central role in many biological processes and is linked to a wide range of disease areas. GPCRs are expressed in every type of cell in the body where their function is to transmit signals from outside the cell across the membrane to signaling pathways within the cell, between cells and between organ systems. There are over 375 GPCRs encoded in the human genome, of which 225 have known ligands and 150 are orphan targets. GPCRs are the site of action of 25-30% of current drugs. Six of the top ten and 60 of the top 200 best-selling drugs in the US in 2010 target GPCRs.