BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc has terminated its collaboration with 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals Inc (3DP) to discover and develop inhibitors of certain enzymes of the complement cascade system. The Collaborative Research Agreement between BioCryst and 3DP was initiated in October 1996. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"We made this decision to enable BioCryst to better focus both its energies and internal resources on advancing the clinical oncology trial program for our lead product candidate, BCX-1777, and moving our next drug candidate, BCX3607, into the clinic for both cardiovascular and oncology indications," said Charles E. Bugg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BioCryst. "BioCryst also has several compounds in the pipeline for treatment of hepatitis C and autoimmune diseases, and we expect that we can now pursue these opportunities more aggressively."

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals designs, optimizes and develops novel drugs that block key enzymes essential for cancer, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases, and viral infections. BioCryst integrates the necessary disciplines of biology, crystallography, medicinal chemistry and computer modeling to effectively use structure-based drug design to discover and develop small molecule pharmaceuticals.

Enrollment in four Phase I trials for BioCryst's lead product candidate, BCX-1777, is underway at 11 cancer centers for patients with T-cell malignancies, hematologic malignancies, and other refractory cancers.