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20 June, 2005: Novasite Pharmaceuticals Inc announced has acquired PsyCheNomicS, Inc, a drug discovery company focused on diseases of central nervous system (CNS), for an undisclosed sum. Novasite focuses on discovery and development of allosteric modulators of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).
"The acquisition provides Novasite with high-quality CNS drug leads, our area of therapeutic focus. Importantly, through this transaction we have also substantially augmented our management team with the appointment of Dr James Hauske, a drug discovery and development veteran, whom we welcome as executive vice president of Drug Discovery," Novasite president and chief executive officer Tim Harris said in a statement.
"These new compound assets complement Novasite's existing pipeline and our core structure-function analysis and single-cell screening technologies. Novasite's business model is to apply our powerful discovery technologies to promising leads and rapidly advance them into clinical evaluation to create value for our stakeholders," he said.
"This is a great opportunity to add value to an organization with differentiating technology in GPCR drug discovery and excellent science, and it is a pleasure to join such a team," said Jim Hauske.
Dr Hauske joins Novasite from PsyCheNomicS, the CNS drug discovery startup he founded. While at PsyCheNomicS, Dr. Hauske developed technology to identify small molecule drug candidates that bind to distinct sets of disease-relevant molecular targets including GPCRs.
He had held executive positions at Beyond Genomics, Sepracor, Arris (now part of Celera), and Pfizer. He has experience in medicinal chemistry and pre-clinical development, including the discovery of GPCR active drugs.
During his 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry, he has taken eight new chemical entities into clinical development including candidates that have progressed through various phases of testing and commercialisation.
BY OUR PHARMA CORRESPONDENT
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