Zenyth And Murigen To Collaborate On New Drug For Inflammation

Monday, February 20th 2006

Melbourne, Australia - February 20th, 2006 - Zenyth Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:ZTL) and MuriGen Therapeutics, today announced a collaboration agreement to co-develop a new class of drugs that target arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.   

The collaboration will aim to develop therapeutic proteins that inhibit the activity of the cytokine granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), or its receptor.  G-CSF regulates the production of key inflammatory cells and scientists at Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) have recently demonstrated that blocking G-CSF activity can have a profound impact on the development of inflammatory disease in animal models.  Treatment was effective even once disease was established and compared very favourably with blockade of the cytokine TNF, the target of current highly successful treatments.  These results are the subject of a recent patent application by WEHI, and that patent has been exclusively licensed to MuriGen; a WEHI start-up company.

Dr Andrew Nash, Zenyth's Chief Executive Officer, said "This project represents a significant new opportunity for Zenyth.  Our portfolio is now clearly focused on therapeutic antibodies for inflammation and cancer and this project fits extremely well within that focus.  We are delighted to be collaborating with our colleagues at MuriGen and to be continuing our longstanding and productive relationship with WEHI".

Dr Nash noted that the project would benefit from Zenyth's capacity to generate therapeutic antibodies, including through the recently announced agreement with Dyax Corporation. "These targets are well suited to antibody-based therapies and application of the Dyax phage display antibody libraries will be a key aspect of the research program" said Dr Nash.

Dr Nicholas Samaras, MuriGen's Chief Executive Officer, said "We are very pleased to be working with Zenyth, a company we consider to be Australia's leading antibody therapeutics company.  We view this collaboration as a great opportunity to significantly accelerate the development efforts of our flagship project through to the nomination of clinical candidates and we also look forward to communicating more details on the depth of our drug discovery pipeline during an international capital raising roadshow commencing shortly."

Professor Ian Wicks, Director of Rheumatology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and leader of the research group at WEHI which made the initial discovery, was delighted to see the results of his research taken up by Zenyth and MuriGen.  "Our research has identified a potentially exciting new approach to the treatment of arthritis and other inflammatory diseases and it is very pleasing to see Zenyth and MuriGen take up the challenge of translating that research into new therapies for patients".

Under the agreement Zenyth and MuriGen will jointly fund research and development of the potential drug on a cost sharing basis through to completion of proof-of-concept in human clinical trials.

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About Zenyth Therapeutics

Zenyth Therapeutics Limited is an Australian biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialisation of antibody-based therapies in the areas of inflammation and cancer.  Zenyth has strong intellectual property covering targets such as the IL-13 receptor, the GM-CSF receptor and VEGF-B, and together with its partners is developing therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of diseases such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.  Further information about Zenyth and its projects can be found at www.zenyth.com.au

About MuriGen Therapeutics

MuriGen Therapeutics is an Australian-based drug discovery and development company established by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and four of Australia's leading scientists.  MuriGen is building a portfolio of novel drugs for unmet medical needs across a number of therapeutic areas including arthritis, thrombocytopenia, inflammation, epilepsy and thalassemia. By leveraging its proprietary drug discovery platform, MuriGen Therapeutics is working towards the validation of novel drug targets that have the potential to provide significant benefits for researchers, health care practitioners, and patients.  Further information about MuriGen Therapeutics can be found at www.murigen.com.au

About WEHI

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) is one of the world's leading medical research centres.  WEHI's international reputation has been built upon major contributions to immunology, haematology, cancer, malaria and autoimmune diseases, including diabetes, multiple sclerosis, coeliac disease and rheumatoid arthritis.  Over many decades, advances and discoveries in these areas have led to significant benefits for patients throughout the world.  WEHI is in the front line of the biotechnology revolution, using advances in genetics, bioinformatics and structural biology to help develop individualised therapies and more effective drugs.  Further information about WEHI can be found at www.wehi.edu.au

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Further information:

Dr Andrew Nash

Chief Executive Officer
Zenyth Therapeutics Ltd
+61 3 9208 4000

or

Dr Nicholas Samaras

Chief Executive Officer
MuriGen Pty Ltd

or

Dr Julian Clark

Head Business Development
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
61 3 9345 2612