AEGiS-PRn: Agouron Scientists Solve Protease Enzyme Structure

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Agouron Scientists Solve Protease Enzyme Structure

PR Newswire, 810 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019 -

LA JOLLA, Calif., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced that its scientists have solved the three-dimensional atomic structure of the protease enzyme encoded by the human cytomegalovirus (CMV). A member of the family of herpes viruses, CMV causes degeneration of vision and ultimately blindness in AIDS patients, as well as major organ failure in immunocompromised transplant and cancer patients. CMV is also associated with restenosis (closing of the arteries) in patients who have undergone angioplasty procedures. Solution of the CMV protease structure opens the way to the design of a new class of anti-viral drugs that block the CMV protease and disrupt the CMV life cycle in the same way that HIV protease inhibitors, an important new class of anti-HIV drugs, block the life cycle of HIV.

The solution of the CMV protease structure by x-ray diffraction techniques at a resolution of 2.5 Angstroms was reported in today's issue of the scientific journal Cell, Vol. 86, No. 5, and is a major milestone in a drug discovery program being carried out collaboratively by scientists from Agouron and the pharmaceutical division of Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT). Scientists from Agouron and JT are presently engaged in the design, synthesis and evaluation of CMV protease inhibitors based upon the structure of the protease. Development of a drug from this collaborative program is not expected to begin for at least two years.

Japan Tobacco Inc. is a diversified company with annual revenues in excess of $30 billion and assets exceeding $18 billion. JT entered the pharmaceutical business in 1987 and currently markets a wide range of over the counter products and ethical pharmaceutical products. The company is engaged in clinical development of anti- inflammatory, anti-asthmatic, anti-diabetic agents and launched 5HT3 antagonist as an anti-emetic in Japan in 1994. JT presently conducts drug discovery research in its new Central Pharmaceutical Research Institute in Osaka, Japan.

Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a pioneer and leader in the development and application of technologies that enable the atom by atom design of novel synthetic drugs based upon the molecular structures of target proteins which play key roles in human disease. Agouron is currently applying these technologies to the design and development of novel drugs for treatment of cancer, AIDS and other serious diseases.

Agouron Pharmaceuticals, 619-622-3009, or http://www.agouron.com/ (AGPH)

Keywords: PROTEASE; CYTOMEGALOVIRUS; CMV; HERPES; AIDS PATIENTS; IMMUNOCOMPROMISED; HIV

Copyright (c) 1996/PR NewsWire. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, PR Newswire, 810 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019.

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