ArQule, Inc. announced that it has achieved a milestone, triggering a payment to ArQule from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Wyeth has filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a compound whose discovery was facilitated through the collaborative Directed Array Program with ArQule. The Wyeth IND application seeks permission to conduct clinical trials on a candidate for a disease in women's health.

In 1997, ArQule and Wyeth commenced a five year, $28 million collaboration involving access to ArQule's Mapping Array and Directed Array programs. This compound was nominated for development track status in October 2002. The filing of the IND triggers a milestone payment to ArQule as part of its agreement with Wyeth. ArQule could also receive additional milestones if the program progresses and royalties on commercial sales of any products resulting from the collaboration. Financial terms of the milestone were not disclosed.

"This milestone, representing the first payment to ArQule for an IND filing based on our technology, clearly validates ArQule's approach to chemistry-based drug discovery," said Dr Stephen Hill, ArQule's president and chief executive officer. "We are pleased to see results from our contribution to Wyeth's discovery and development pipeline."

Dr Hill continued, "We are proud of our achievements for our pharmaceutical partners. We are also excited by the prospects of integrating this chemistry expertise with our Activated Checkpoint Therapy biology platform focused on building a portfolio of cancer therapeutics."