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| Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Sublicenses Portion of Lifespan Technology in Plants to Bayer CropScience AG |
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 2008--Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRT) today announces a license agreement with Bayer CropScience AG, headquartered in Monheim, Germany that grants exclusive, worldwide rights in the field of plants to a certain Sirtris technology that contributes to cellular life span extension and stress resistance. In return, Sirtris will receive an initial up-front and future success bound milestone payments. Further financial terms were not disclosed. Crop damage from drought, lack of nutrients and other environmental stresses is of growing worldwide concern. The licensed technology provides possible new approaches to improving agricultural productivity. "Sirtris has and continues to build a strong intellectual property estate around the cellular pathways and distinct molecules associated with longevity and diseases of aging," said Karl Normington, PhD, Senior Director of Intellectual Property. "Sublicensing portions of our technology to areas that are outside our principle lines of focus, such as agricultural productivity, extend the applications of our technology." "We are pleased to be working with Bayer CropScience," said Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chair Christoph Westphal, MD, PhD. "Because of their focus on improving agricultural productivity, they are well-positioned to leverage this important technology for crop yield stability." Michiel van Lookeren Campagne, PhD, Head of BioScience Research for Bayer CropScience welcomes the partnership with Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. "Global population growth and climate change have put huge pressure on increasing agricultural productivity under sub-optimal growing conditions. The integration of Sirtris' proprietary technology into our seeds and traits R&D pipeline will complement our activities in obtaining higher yielding crops - especially under difficult climatic conditions." About Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Sirtris Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing proprietary, orally available, small molecule drugs with the potential to treat diseases associated with aging, including metabolic diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes. Our drug candidates are designed to mimic certain beneficial health effects of calorie restriction, without requiring a change in eating habits, by activation of sirtuins, a recently discovered class of enzymes that the Company believes control the aging process. The company's headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This and further information is available at: www.sirtrispharma.com Forward Looking Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, the potential therapeutic effects of SIRT1 activators; the progress and results of pre-clinical and clinical studies of SIRT1 activators; the potential of Sirtris' technology to improve agricultural productivity; the strength of the Company's intellectual property estate; and the potential of sirtuin modulators to receive regulatory approval. These forward-looking statements about future expectations, plans and prospects of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including risks related to the lack of results that would provide a basis for predicting whether any of the Company's product candidates will be safe or effective, or receive regulatory approval, the possibility that results of pre-clinical studies are not necessarily predictive of clinical trial results, the Company's potential inability to initiate and complete pre-clinical studies and clinical trials for its product candidates, the fact that none of the Company's product candidates has received regulatory approvals, the potential inability of the Company to gain market acceptance of the Company's product candidates, and those other risks factors that can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from those Sirtris Pharmaceuticals contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Sirtris Pharmaceuticals does not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect a change in its views or events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release.
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| "Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Sirtris Pharmaceuticals's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year. |