Athersys Inc. has extended its existing alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company to apply its patented RAGE technology to provide Bristol-Myers Squibb with additional validated drug targets for high-throughput screening and lead optimisation in multiple therapeutic areas.

According to a company release, the new agreement will extend the alliance for up to three years with a guaranteed minimum number of targets to be supplied by Athersys annually. Under the terms of the extension, Athersys is entitled to receive license fees for targets delivered to Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as milestone payments and royalties on compounds developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb using the Athersys technology.

The collaboration extension builds upon an on-going partnership and two previous agreements between the companies. Athersys and Bristol-Myers Squibb originally entered into a research and development collaboration in January 2001 and then expanded the collaboration in July 2002. Over the course of the partnership, Athersys has successfully delivered multiple drug targets to Bristol-Myers Squibb from distinct target classes and in a variety of therapeutic areas. These targets provide the foundation for several active drug development programs at Bristol-Myers Squibb. As part of the extended partnership, the companies will continue to work closely together to facilitate certain drug development activities at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

"Athersys is delighted to continue our long-standing partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb. During the past several years, Athersys has continued to refine its proprietary technologies and provide our partners with access to important validated drug targets. This collaboration extension represents an important financial transaction for the company, and provides further validation for the technological foundation of our internal drug development programmes," said John Harrington, executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Athersys.

RAGE (Random Activation of Gene Expression) is a novel gene expression system developed by Athersys scientists that provides the unique ability to produce protein from virtually any gene in the human genome, without requiring the cloning of individual genes or use of cDNA libraries. The technology may be used to facilitate the mapping of complex biological pathways using genome- wide protein expression libraries produced using RAGE in conjunction with cell based assays, or may be used as a means to produce cell lines that express individual drug targets of interest.

Athersys is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development and commercialisation of therapeutic products to treat significant and life- threatening diseases.