The News

7TM Pharma advances the next first-in-class obesity compound into clinical development

08/03/2007

Denmark – March 8th, 2007:7TM Pharma has initiated a phase I/II clinical trial for TM30339, selected from the company’s novel development program for treatment of obesity. TM30339 is the second clinical development candidate taken into clinical testing from the company’s in-house drug discovery programs.

TM30339 is derived from the company’s discovery program on Y4 receptor selective agonists. The basis for this, as well as other programs, is the company’s in-house structure-based drug discovery approach as well as its world-leading expertise specifically within the NPY receptor field.
Obesity and related metabolic disorders are considered a major health problem and challenge to the developed world. Obesity significantly increases the risk of, for example, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes type II and result in enormous health care expenditure. According to WHO, there are more than 400 million clinically obese people worldwide with a BMI above 30 and the number is growing rapidly. Despite this, current obesity treatment is restricted to a few drugs with limited efficacy and significant side effects and there is an urgent need for new and improved treatment possibilities.

TM30339 works through the Y4 receptor like the natural satiety hormone, Pancreatic Polypeptide (PP), but TM30339 has improved properties over PP. Thus, TM30339 mimics a natural satiety signal from the gastrointestinal tract involved in the regulation of food intake in man. In pre-clinical studies in obese mice, the Y4 receptor selective TM30339 was highly efficacious with respect to long term body weight reduction.

Christian E. Elling, Director of Development, commented: “Advancing TM30339 into clinical trials further strengthens our development pipeline within obesity and metabolic disorders which addresses these diseases through distinct mechanisms of action.”

“Our focused efforts and programs within the Y receptor field have now resulted in two clinical candidates as well as a discovery program in late stage for treatment of vascular diseases, which makes this platform one of the broadest and strongest in the industry” says Thue W. Schwartz, CSO.

About 7TM Pharma
7TM Pharma is a discovery and development biopharmaceutical company which focuses on new pharmaceutical drugs targeting 7TM receptors – a large group of highly valuable drug targets with ample room for exploitation. Approximately 40% of today’s prescription drugs target 7TM receptors, but utilize only 5% of the known 7TM receptor targets. The core therapeutic focus of 7TM Pharma is metabolic disorders, including obesity, an area of obvious unmet medical need and increasing prevalence globally. Within a few years,

the company has established a rich pipeline of discovery and development programs based on its in-house research and development. The pipeline combines peptide and small molecule programs. Results from Phase I/II clinical studies with the lead moelcule, TM30338 targeting treatment of obesity, have been reported in 2006. TM30338 is currently moving towards a phase II clinical study. Other programs focus on novel treatments for inflammation (asthma/allergy) and vascular diseases.

The company is tightly integrating its structure based drug discovery approach, Site-Directed Drug Discovery® - based on detailed structural insight and knowledge about ligand-receptor interactions - with traditional drug discovery. The company has entered into several collaborative partnerships, including agreements with Ortho-McNeil, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.

Contact: Mette Kirstine Agger Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Phone: +45 39 25 77 77 Email: agger@7tm.com