For Release 9 a.m. CDT
September 16, 2003
Reata Announces Completion of In License Activities, Recruitment of Founding Scientists, and Financing Round
Reata Completes Licensing Arrangements with The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
DALLAS -- September 16, 2003 -- Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Reata") announced the completion of a series of exclusive patent licenses with The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas ("UT Southwestern"). Under the UT Southwestern licenses, Reata acquired commercial rights to a portfolio of promising cancer clinical candidates as well as a unique small-molecule discovery platform useful in identifying promising new treatments for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Reata also announced the acquisition of a series of promising anti-cancer agents developed at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center ("MD Anderson"). "Reata was formed to commercialize promising drug candidates developed at leading Texas research institutions," said Warren Huff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Reata. "With these technology additions, Reata has three new anti-cancer agents in active preclinical development." Reata's development strategy has been to focus only on compounds that (a) are highly specific and potent for a known target, (b) have a novel mechanism of action, and (c) address the deadliest forms of cancer, for which existing treatments are inadequate. The Reata preclinical drug candidates have demonstrated effectiveness in preclinical disease models and have promising toxicity profiles. Reata expects to advance two of its lead compounds to clinical trials during 2004.
Reata also acquired a proprietary cell-based assay system from UT Southwestern that enables the efficient discovery of small-molecule drugs that rescue disease-causing proteins from misfolding. Improper protein folding has emerged recently as a critical pathogenic mechanism for a number of intractable diseases including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Reata plans to use this breakthrough assay technology to identify new compounds that prevent misfolding of important regulatory proteins that are mutated in many human cancers and to discover new compounds that correct misfolding of key pathogenic proteins involved in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and ALS. Products discovered through the application of this technology could be capable of altering the course of disease and could have significant advantages over current symptomatic treatments.
Founding Scientists
Reata announced the addition of several inventors of the technologies licensed by it as founding scientists, including the following: Dr. Thomas Sudhof, professor of molecular genetics and director of the Center for Basic Neuroscience at UT Southwestern; Dr. Waldemar Priebe, professor of medicinal chemistry at MD Anderson; Dr. Jonathan M. Graff, associate professor in the Center for Developmental Biology and of molecular biology at UT Southwestern; Dr. Philip J. Thomas, associate professor of physiology at UT Southwestern; and Dr. Jef Karel De Brabander, assistant professor of biological chemistry at UT Southwestern. Dr. Jerry W. Shay, professor of cell biology at UT Southwestern has joined the Company's scientific advisory board.
Completion of Financing Round
Reata also announced the completion of a private financing round that brings the company’s total start up financing to $5.2 million. The financing round was led by Ojai Goliad. Other investors included STARTech Early Ventures.
