Cyclacel Announces Patent Application for Improved Penetratin®

DUNDEE - 11 August 2000 - Cyclacel Limited, the UK-based cancer therapeutics company, today announced the publication of a patent application disclosing shortened and modified versions of its Penetratin® technology.

This technology is the basis of Cyclacel's CYC300 drug programme of novel cancer therapeutics in which existing cancer drugs are linked to Penetratin. The linked combination or conjugate can alter the physical, chemical and delivery properties of such drugs. CYC300 conjugates have the potential to increase the therapeutic index of existing drugs by altering both their efficacy and tolerability.

PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) application number WO 00/29427 claims the use of a truncated (7 aminoacid) version of the Penetratin delivery system in association with small molecule conjugates. The advantages of the shortened form compared to a conjugate using the full-length (16 aminoacid) variant relate to improvements in clearance, cytotoxicity, solubility and manufacturing.

Professor Sir David Lane, Cyclacel's Chief Scientific Officer,said: "The development of Penetratin-drug conjugates using the shortened form of Penetratin is an important technical advance by Cyclacel scientists and adds increased versatility to a promising technology. This delivery system is likely to be valuable not only to Cyclacel in the context of our CYC300 programme but also to other companies seeking to improve the delivery characteristics of their candidate drugs. In addition to cancer, this technology may have applications in other therapeutic areas."