Cambridge, UK…Cambridge Combinatorial Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford Molecular Group plc (London Stock Exchange: OMG), today announced it had signed agreements with Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd to design and synthesise compounds aimed at two separate pharmaceutical targets.

While the exact nature of the agreements could not be disclosed, the deal includes research fees, milestone payments and provisions for royalties on compounds developed during the projects.

The announcement marks an expansion of Oxford Molecular’s relationship with Yamanouchi which began in 1996 when the companies embarked on a multi-disciplinary collaborative research programme.

"This is another substantial business success for Cambridge Combinatorial and is based on our excellence in medicinal and combinatorial chemistry combined with strong design input through our molecular modelling capabilities," said Dr Allan Marchington, Chief Executive of Cambridge Combinatorial. "We are very proud to be associated with Yamanouchi, one of Japan’s most progressive pharmaceutical companies."

Following extensive computer-aided design and initial synthesis phases, each project will provide Yamanouchi with highly targeted libraries of compounds for screening. As in all collaborations, compounds supplied by Cambridge Combinatorial will be accompanied by full cheminformatics data.

Cambridge Combinatorial Limited

Cambridge Combinatorial Limited provides world-class, innovative chemistry services to accelerate discovery and process research, servicing the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology industries. The Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford Molecular Group Plc. Cambridge Combinatorial has developed leading technologies for discovery research including innovative molecular design, novel chemistries, new synthetic chemistry platforms and a comprehensive integrated informatics system. The company acts as an extension to the resources of its collaborators with solutions for discovery research including medicinal and combinatorial chemistry for lead generation, validation, optimisation and technology transfer as required.

Cambridge Combinatorial supplies the molecular design and synthesis arm of Oxford Molecular’s Collaborative Discovery. Collaborative Discovery acts as a central point for multi-disciplinary research projects involving both chemistry and biology research. Cambridge Combinatorial has secured many discovery collaborations with a range of pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology companies, spanning the US, Japan and Europe, these include: Procter & Gamble, Rohm & Haas, Solvay Duphar, Dainippon Pharmaceutical, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Alizyme and Oxford Glycosciences.

Oxford Molecular Group plc

Oxford Molecular is a leading provider of discovery and software solutions to the life sciences market. The Company seeks to deliver excellence in all its products and services and to help its customers benefit from the synergy that is created from the integration of state-of-the-art chemistry, biology and information technology infrastructure.

The Discovery Solutions Division offers discovery research through collaboration, by providing world-class innovative technologies in chemistry and biology which intimately match customer needs and add value to their research programmes. The Software Solutions Division supplies enterprise-wide software and information technology solutions for research across the entire drug discovery process. Innovative and superior products target customer needs for excellence in each area of discovery research; and together they form integrated solutions that add value to the flow of information through the customer’s research process.

The Company has its headquarters in Oxford, England and has operations throughout the USA as well as sales offices and agents around the world.

Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Company Ltd