|
Par Pharmaceutical Exhibit 99.1
Contacts:
Stephen J. Mock
Cecelia C. Heer
Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc.
(201) 802-4000
PAR PHARMACEUTICAL ANNOUNCES EQUITY INVESTMENT
IN OPTIMER PHARMACEUTICALS
PAR ENTERS INTO JOINT DEVELOPMENT AND COLLABORATION AGREEMENT
WITH OPTIMER
---
COMPANIES TO COLLABORATE IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING
OF ANTIBIOTIC, PAR-101;
PAR-101 REPRESENTS PROMISING ADDITION TO PAR'S EXPANDING
PIPELINE OF
NEW DRUG CANDIDATES
SPRING VALLEY, NEW YORK, MAY 3, 2005 - Par Pharmaceutical
Companies, Inc.
(NYSE:PRX) today announced that it has entered into a purchase
agreement to
acquire a 16 percent equity interest in Optimer Pharmaceuticals,
Inc. Optimer is
a privately held biotechnology company located in San Diego,
California. The
company was founded in 1998 by Michael Chang, Ph.D., Professor
Chi-Huey Wong of
Scripps Research Institute and Professor Samuel Danishefsky of
Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Par and Optimer have also entered into a joint development and
collaboration
agreement for the compound now known as PAR-101. PAR-101 is a
narrow-spectrum
antibiotic with potent activity against CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE
(C. DIFFICILE). It
is orally active, with minimum systemic exposure, and is being
developed for the
treatment of C. DIFFICILE-associated diarrhea (CDAD), the
leading cause of
institutional enteric infections. Currently, there is no
satisfactory treatment
for CDAD. PAR-101 has been granted Fast-Track status by the U.S.
Food and Drug
Administration, and is now in Phase IIa clinical studies, with
Phase IIb trials
expected to commence in the second half of 2005. If all proceeds
well with the
product's development and regulatory review, Par believes that
PAR-101 could be
available commercially as soon as 2008.
"Working closely with our accomplished colleagues at Optimer, we
look forward to
demonstrating the utility of PAR-101 in addressing a
significant, unmet medical
need," said Shankar Hariharan, Ph.D., executive vice president
and chief
scientific officer of Par. "We are excited to add this new
compound to Par's
expanding roster of new drug candidates in clinical
development.
CONTINUED...
<PAGE>
"CDAD imposes significant costs on society both in terms of
human suffering and
economics. We believe that PAR-101 has the potential to become
an important
addition to the physician's armamentarium for treating this
debilitating
infection," Dr. Hariharan added.
"We are proud and excited to have Par as our development and
marketing partner,"
said Dr. Michael Chang, president and chief executive officer of
Optimer. "We
believe that this collaboration will significantly expedite
the
commercialization of PAR-101."
In the U.S., as many as 10 percent of all patie
| 
