CuraGen Corporation has modified certain terms of its ongoing metabolic disorder collaboration agreement with Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation relating to the development of BAY 76-7171 (formerly CT052).

Under the revised agreement, CuraGen has exercised its right to revert to a tiered royalty structure under which CuraGen would receive royalties on any BAY 76-7171 product sales and CuraGen will no longer contribute to the ongoing development costs for BAY 76-7171. The revisions to the agreement are effective as of October 31, 2005. The terms of the original agreement remain unchanged with respect to CuraGen's right to co-develop and co-commercialise any additional compounds resulting from this collaboration, claims a company release.

Under the terms of the original agreement, CuraGen and Bayer had agreed to co-develop and co-commercialize any products resulting from the collaboration, sharing the costs of pre-clinical and clinical development equally, with CuraGen to receive 44% of the profits from marketed products.

"We are very pleased with the success of our ongoing relationship with Bayer. The collaboration was established in 2001 to leverage Bayer's high- throughput screening and chemistry expertise in order to discover promising small molecule compounds against targets provided by CuraGen. The collaboration has identified BAY 76-7171 which is expected to enter clinical development during the first half of 2006, and we continue to identify additional promising small molecule candidates for the treatment of diabetes. Despite the availability of interventions for type 2 diabetes, this disease remains a world-wide epidemic, and a significant need exists for new treatments that effectively control blood sugar with minimal risk of side effects," stated Dr. Timothy M. Shannon, executive vice president of research and development and chief medical officer at CuraGen Corporation.

CuraGen Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company that develops a pipeline of novel protein, antibody, and small molecule therapeutics in the areas of oncology, inflammatory diseases, and diabetes.