Devgen NV, a Belgian functional genomics and drug discovery company, today announced that it has signed a three-year research collaboration with Sumitomo Chemical Company Limited to develop novel insecticides.

Devgen will select and further validate novel insecticidal targets and format high throughput assays to screen small molecule compounds, designed by Sumitomo. Devgen will deliver insect active hits, which Sumitomo will further develop into marketed products. Under the terms of the agreement, Devgen will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and research funding and is eligible for milestones and royalties.

"This broad research collaboration follows the successful completion of a smaller collaboration, which was undertaken in 2001. We were impressed with the tangible results Devgen delivered and we are looking forward to working together for the next three years", said Mr. Toshio Sumida, Associate Director of Sumitomo Chemical in charge of the Planning & Coordination Office of its Agricultural Chemicals Sector.

"Starting from the selection of novel pest specific targets enables the development of insecticides that act through a different mechanism of action and that are more environmentally friendly, compared to products already on the market", said Devgen's CEO, Dr. Thierry Bogaert. "We are very pleased to use our advanced technologies to contribute to Sumitomo's discovery and development of insecticidal compounds."

Sumitomo Chemical is a Japan-based chemical and pharmaceutical company that operates through a network of subsidiaries, affiliates and liaison offices around the world. With annual sales of 7.6 billion U.S. dollars, it seeks to be a global leader in the chemical industry in the 21st century. Life sciences is one of the three priority areas that Sumitomo Chemical has identified for achieving sustained growth.

Devgen is the world leader for in vivo drug discovery based on the industrialized use of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. This technology base is successfully utilized in pharmaceutical research synergistically with agrochemical and pest control applications and combines world-class use of model organism biology with powerful assay systems, bioinformatics and project-focused chemistry. Devgen enables the rapid prioritization and validation of disease targets, the identification of a drug's mechanism of action, and has established a unique program that enables the high throughput screening of human transmembrane proteins, such as ion channels and transporters, in a physiological context. The company's in-house programs are focused on developing novel therapies for metabolic and CNS related diseases