CuraGen Corporation and Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation have advanced a new orally active small molecule for the management of type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes into preclinical drug development. The collaboration between Bayer and CuraGen was established to identify and develop drugs targeted at the treatment of diabetes and obesity.

"Type 2 diabetes is fast becoming a world-wide epidemic, and despite currently available treatments, there remains a significant need for drugs that effectively manage type 2 diabetes while minimizing the risk of significant adverse effects," stated Timothy M. Shannon, executive vice president of Research and Development and CMO at CuraGen Corporation. "We look forward to jointly developing this diabetes compound with Bayer as they continue to identify additional small molecule compounds for use in obesity and diabetes based upon targets discovered by CuraGen," he added.

"Achieving this milestone is a major accomplishment for the Bayer-CuraGen collaboration in metabolic disease." Joe Catino, Sr. Vice president Research at Bayer said adding, "Our team-oriented approach to target discovery and lead identification has enabled us to bring this new drug candidate forward to the preclinical development stage. We look forward to working together with CuraGen to advance this and additional compounds to fill important medical needs."

Bayer HealthCare AG, a subgroup of Bayer AG with sales of approximately 8.9 billion Euro in 2003, is one of the world's leading, innovative companies in the health care and medical products industry.