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Salt Lake City, Tokyo, and Redwood Shores, CA, April 4, 2001
- Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Nasdaq: MYGN), Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT)
and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL,) today announced that they have formed a
landmark alliance to map the human proteome in less than three years.
The collaboration will combine Myriad's proteomics expertise with
the leading information and electronics technologies of Hitachi and
the leading software capabilities of Oracle, to analyze all proteins
and their interactions within cells of the body. The alliance partners
expect to collect this information in a proprietary database of all
human protein interactions, all biochemical pathways and a comprehensive
catalog of purified proteins by 2004.
The collaboration, valued at $185 million, will take place within
the newly formed Myriad Proteomics, Inc., a 50% owned subsidiary of
Myriad Genetics. Myriad Proteomics will market its proprietary database
and set of proteomic materials to pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies for therapeutic and diagnostic product development.
“Bringing together these three powerhouse companies to map the
human proteome will lead to the understanding of the molecular basis
of protein function and dysfunction, creating unprecedented opportunities
for pharmaceutical development,” said Peter Meldrum, President
and Chief Executive Officer of Myriad Genetics, Inc. “This project
represents a bold leap toward the future of drug development through
a substantial commitment to discovering the molecular basis of disease
in order to create safer, more effective therapeutics.”
As the human genome is being completed and annotated, proteomics is
assuming the leading role in determining the cause of disease, driving
advances in disease prevention and treatment. The knowledge of protein
interactions and biochemical pathways that will be revealed with Myriad's
technologies will play a pivotal role in identifying factors that
contribute to disease onset, and thereby provide ideal targets to
interrupt the disease process or potentially, to prevent disease altogether.
“This project will generate a massive amount of information about
the human proteome, and Oracle's database will store, analyze and
distribute all of it,” said Larry Ellison, Chief Executive Officer
of Oracle. “We look forward to participating in this remarkable
collaboration and extending Oracle's strong position in the life sciences
industry.”
To achieve its objective, Myriad will apply two complementary proteomic
technologies. The company will use its proprietary ProNet(R) protein
interaction technology, which is an industrialized high-throughput
version of the yeast two-hybrid system, and ProSpecTM,
a proprietary mass spectrometric technology for the identification
of protein complexes, and is ideally suited to identify proteins in
complexes even if those proteins undergo secondary changes after they
are expressed in the cell. Combining these complementary technologies
is necessary in order to identify all human protein interactions and
biochemical pathways.
Both the ProNet(R) and ProSpecTM
technologies will be applied in a non-directed fashion or “shotgun
approach,” which, due to its rapid and randomized nature, is
the most efficient means to achieve an undertaking of this magnitude.
Myriad Genetics will contribute technology valued at $82 million to
the alliance. Hitachi, Oracle and Friedli Corporate Finance of Zurich,
Switzerland, will contribute a combined $85 million in cash, plus
$18 million in technology to be used in the collaboration.
“The strategic alliance with Myriad Genetics and Oracle is a
major milestone in Hitachi's aggressive commitment to its emerging
life sciences business. This endeavor, in addition to the ongoing
collaboration with Myriad Genetics on ProNet(R) technology, strengthens
Hitachi's presence in the proteomics fields,” said Hiroya Taguchi,
Chief Executive Officer of the Life Science Group at Hitachi,Ltd.
“Integrated platforms comprising cluster servers, storage and
network systems provided from Hitachi ensure the establishment of
a reliable and productive IT infrastructure for this proteomics alliance.”
Myriad, Hitachi and Oracle intend to generate the full complement
of expressed human proteins in a purified form. This collection will
become an excellent resource to undertake structural biology studies
such as X-ray crystallography and 2D-NMR with an aim to identify protein
domains of biological and therapeutic significance. The availability
of such structural information will allow Myriad to match the chemical
diversity of available compounds with the novel therapeutically relevant
proteins, leading to the pursuit of chemi-proteomic strategies that
will enable the design of novel therapeutic compounds in the context
of relevant structural information.
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's
leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1999 (ended March
31, 2000) consolidated sales of 8,001 billion yen ($75.5 billion,
at an exchange rate of 106 yen to the dollar). The company manufactures
and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors,
consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information
on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi's Web site at http://global.hitachi.com.
Oracle provides the software that powers the Internet. For more information
about Oracle, please call (650) 506-7000 or visit Oracle on the web
at http://www.oracle.com.
Friedli Corporate Finance is a leading Swiss high-tech investment
banking firm and the Investment Manager of New Venturetec, a Swiss
publicly traded investment company. Please visit www.newventuretec.com.
Friedli Corporate Finance has been an investor in Myriad since the
start of its operations and still is a shareholder of Myriad. Visit
our Web site at http://www.friedlicorp.com/
Myriad Genetics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the
development of novel therapeutic products derived from its proprietary
genomic and proteomic technologies. The Company has established two
wholly owned subsidiaries. Myriad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. develops and
intends to market therapeutic compounds, and Myriad Genetic Laboratories,
Inc. develops and markets proprietary predictive medicine and personalized
medicine products. The Company has established strategic alliances
with Bayer, Eli Lilly, Hitachi, Novartis, Pharmacia, Roche, Schering
AG and Schering-Plough.
The discussion in this news release includes forward-looking statements
that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including statements
regarding the ability of Myriad Proteomics to map the entire human
proteome in less than three years, the opportunities for pharmaceutical
development that might be created, and the effect of and role in disease
understanding and prevention that will result from the knowledge that
will be generated by Myriad Proteomics. Such statements are based
on management's current expectations that are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those set forth or implied by forward-looking statements, including,
but not limited to uncertainties as to the extent of future government
regulation of Myriad Genetics' or Myriad Proteomics' business, uncertainties
as to whether Myriad Genetics or Myriad Proteomics and its collaborators
will be successful in developing, and obtaining regulatory approval
for, and commercial acceptance of, therapeutics; the risk that markets
will not exist for therapeutic compounds that Myriad Genetics or Myriad
Proteomics develops or if such markets exist, that Myriad Genetics
or Myriad Proteomics will not be able to sell compounds, which it
develops, at acceptable prices
Webcast/Conference Call Information
A real-time audiostream Webcast with executives from Myriad, Hitachi
and Oracle has been arranged to discuss this landmark alliance in
proteomics.
Time: Wednesday, April 4, 2001, 10:00 a.m. Eastern time at:
http://www.vcall.com/NASApp/VCall/EventPage?ID=71761
Please log on to the Internet at www at least 10 minutes prior to
the call to ensure adequate time to register and log on.
This release and additional information, including backgrounders and
FAQ, is available on the Web at www.myriad.com.
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