Press Releases

Cempra Pharmaceuticals receives exclusive rights from Optimer Pharmaceuticals for its Macrolide Antibacterial program

MORRISVILLE, NC April 4, 2006 ? Cempra Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that Optimer Pharmaceuticals has granted to Cempra exclusive worldwide rights (except ASEAN countries) to patents and know-how related to its macrolide/ketolide antibacterial program. Cempra has licensed rights to discover, develop and commercialize drugs based on the class of compounds called macrolides and ketolides. Optimer will receive an equity position in Cempra, as well as royalties and milestone payments from any drugs and drug candidates developed and/or co-developed by Cempra. The license includes joint drug discovery and development activities at both companies.

Included in the license agreement are several pre-clinical compounds in addition to ground-breaking chemistry technology for creating the next generation of macrolides and ketolides. Pre-clinical candidates derived from this technology have been shown to possess potent activity against multi-drug resistant Streptococcus pnuemoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes. The most advanced lead is orally active with potent efficacy in animal models after once-a-day administration. This lead will be initially developed for respiratory tract infections in adults and children, including sinusitis, pharyngitis, and community acquired mild to moderate pneumonia.

"We are extremely happy that Optimer has chosen to license their macrolide patents and know-how to Cempra Pharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize new macrolides that could be useful in the armamentarium for treating drug resistant bacteria" said Prabhavathi Fernandes, Ph.D., Cempra's President and Chief Executive Officer. She added, "This license will be the founding stone of Cempra and will allow us to build a company focused on developing a portfolio of antibacterial compounds."

Dr. Michael Chang, President and CEO of Optimer said "Optimer is enthusiastic about this opportunity to move some of our earlier stage programs forward. Cempra has recruited leaders in antibacterial drug discovery and development and by licensing these macrolides to Cempra, we are enhancing the potential to realize value from our macrolide program as we focus our resources on other later stage products."