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Renovis Receives Milestone Payments From AstraZeneca as Phase III Trials of Cerovive® (NXY-059) Commence
South San Francisco, California - May 27, 2003 - Renovis announced today that it has received two milestone payments from AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) in connection with the advancement of Cerovive® (NXY-059) into two Phase III clinical trials for acute ischemic stroke, now known as the SAINT (Stroke œ Acute Ischemic œ NXY Treatment) Trials. The SAINT Trials are comparing the effects of NXY-059 against placebo on disability and neurological recovery in acute ischemic stroke patients. Cerovive® is a nitrone with free radical trapping capabilities that is licensed to AstraZeneca. The trials are designed to include more than 3,000 patients in more than 300 centers across Europe, the United States, Canada, Asia, Australia, South America, and South Africa. Under its agreement with AstraZeneca, Renovis will receive additional milestone payments based on the successful development of NXY-059 and royalties on worldwide sales of the drug.
Renovis also announced today two recent additions to its management team. Dushyant Pathak, Ph.D., joined Renovis as Vice President of Program Management and Corporate Development from Centaur Pharmaceuticals, where he served as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning. Prior to Centaur, Dr. Pathak, 41, served as Senior Director of Corporate Development at Axys Pharmaceuticals and worked in strategic planning at Chiron. Michael G. Kelly, Ph.D., 49, was promoted to Vice President of Drug Discovery from his role as Senior Director of Chemistry at Renovis. Dr. Kelly brings decades of experience in drug discovery from Amgen, Wyeth, and GSK and has spearheaded the rapid advancement of Renovis' drug development activities since joining the Company earlier this year.
"AstraZeneca's initiation of the pivotal Phase III trials of Cerovive®, and these recent additions to our management team bring Renovis two steps closer to realizing its goal of becoming a profitable, fully integrated biopharmaceutical company," said Corey S. Goodman, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Renovis. "The team at Renovis is now focused on the next steps toward reaching that goal, which are initiating a Phase IIb clinical trial with REN-1654 in neuropathic pain and a Phase I trial with REN-213 in acute post-operative pain before the end of 2003."
About Renovis, Inc.
Renovis is a biopharmaceutical company that seeks to improve the lives of patients suffering from neurological disease with novel drugs that renew, restore, and repair the nervous system. The Company plans to have three drug candidates in clinical development by the end of 2003, including Cerovive®, which is in pivotal Phase III clinical trials for acute ischemic stroke and is licensed to AstraZeneca. In addition to its development candidates, Renovis has preclinical programs, discovery research, and specialized chemistry focused in the areas of pain and neuroinflammation. The Company is privately held and headquartered in South San Francisco, California.
For more information about Renovis, please visit www.renovis.com.
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca (AZN: NYSE) is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the top five pharmaceutical companies in the world with healthcare sales of over $17.8 billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, oncology, cardiovascular, neuroscience and respiratory products. In Neuroscience, AstraZeneca is dedicated to providing medicines that have the potential to change patients' lives. The Neuroscience pipeline includes leading approaches for the treatment of depression and anxiety, overactive bladder, dementia and stroke, pain control and anesthesia. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global and European) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.
For more information about AstraZeneca, please visit www.astrazeneca.com.
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