Cambria Biosciences LLC, a drug discovery company, today announced a three-year collaboration with Syngenta Limited, a world leading agribusiness.

Cambria will use its technology to elucidate the mechanism of action of  small molecule compounds supplied by Syngenta to guide the discovery and development of new classes of safe and effective insecticides. Under the terms of the agreement, Syngenta will provide full research funding and certain in-kind resources to Cambria for this program.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

This agreement follows the successful conclusion of a project undertaken by Cambria in 2003, in which scientists at Cambria rapidly identified a site of action for a proprietary Syngenta compound. “The result of our pilot project for Syngenta was the latest in a series of chemical genetic studies by Cambria that have uncovered unprecedented targets that could not have been predicted by typical biochemical or genomic approaches,” said Leo Liu, M.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Cambria. “We look forward to discovering additional high quality targets and chemical leads through our expanded collaboration with Syngenta.”

“We were very pleased and encouraged by the speed and quality of Cambria’s model systems approach,” said Dr. Mike Bushell, Head of Discovery at Syngenta. “Innovation is critical to Syngenta and it enables us to accelerate the discovery and development of safe and effective new products for sustainable agriculture.”

Syngenta is a world-leading agribusiness committed to sustainable agriculture through innovative research and technology. The company is a leader in crop protection, and ranks third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Sales in 2003 were approximately US$ 6.6 billion. Syngenta employs more than 19,000 people in over 90 countries. Syngenta is listed on the Swiss stock exchange (SYNN) and in New York (SYT).

Cambria Biosciences is an innovative biotechnology company that combines the power of genetics and high-throughput chemical screening to discover new drug candidates and how they work. By characterizing the biological mechanism of each promising compound lead in living biological systems that serve as models for human disease, these technologies provide a rapid way to enhance the therapeutic potential of biologically active small molecules. With this platform, the Company will initially focus on drug rescue and the development of new therapeutic candidates for neurodegenerative diseases and infectious disease pests. Cambria earns revenues from corporate partnerships that leverage its technology platform for multiple applications, including public health and biodefense, agriculture, and animal health.