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Senomyx Announces Issuance of U.S. Patent Covering Methods for the Identification of Sweet Taste Modulators
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
San Diego, CA -- Senomyx, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNMX), a leading company using proprietary technologies to discover and develop novel flavor ingredients for the packaged food and beverage industry, announced today the issuance by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of U.S. Patent No. 7,223,551, "T1R3 Receptor Binding Assays For Identification of Taste Modulatory Compounds." The new patent contains broad claims covering binding assays using the human T1R3 taste receptor to screen for compounds that elicit or modulate sweet taste. The patent extends the intellectual property protection provided by Senomyx's previously issued U.S. Patent No. 6,955,887, "Use of T1R Hetero-Oligomeric Taste Receptor to Screen for Compounds that Modulate Taste Signaling," which has broad-based claims that cover novel techniques for using the human sweet taste receptor as the basis for assay systems that are more efficient than traditional flavor discovery procedures.
"Senomyx has two significant discovery and development efforts related to sweet taste, our Sweet Enhancer Program and our High Potency Sweetener Program," said Kent Snyder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Senomyx. "The assays covered by the Company's new and previously issued patents enable us to screen our expansive libraries of nearly half a million natural and synthetic compounds and extracts using proprietary techniques to identify new flavor ingredients that enhance or impart sweet taste."
Senomyx's Sweet Enhancer Program is intended to provide novel flavor ingredients that enhance the taste of natural and artificial sweeteners and enable a significant reduction of added sweeteners in foods and beverages. The Company's complementary High Potency Sweetener Program is focused on identifying novel low- or non-caloric natural high potency sweeteners that provide improved taste and physical properties compared to currently available products. The flavor ingredients resulting from these programs may have applications in multiple product categories such as confectionaries, cereal, ice cream, beverages, yogurt, desserts, spreads, and bakery products, each of which represents a sizeable commercial market opportunity.
"Senomyx's pioneering work in elucidating the structure and function of the human sweet taste receptor has made the Company a leader in the field of human taste biology," explained Mark Zoller, Ph.D., Senomyx's Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Discovery and Development. "We actively seek patent protection for our discoveries and inventions, including coverage for receptor sequences, taste receptor function, expression and assay technologies, and flavor ingredients and applications. Senomyx is now the owner or exclusive licensee of 85 issued patents and 319 pending patent applications in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere."
"We view our intellectual property portfolio as an important asset that helps Senomyx establish collaborative agreements with market-leading food and beverage companies," Snyder added. "We intend to continue to leverage Senomyx's proprietary technologies and capabilities to enter into additional partnerships with preeminent companies that are looking to gain a competitive advantage for their products. Senomyx currently has product discovery and development collaborations with seven of the world's foremost packaged food and beverage companies: Ajinomoto, Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell Soup Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Kraft Foods, Nestle, and Solae."
About Senomyx, Inc. (http://www.senomyx.com)
Senomyx is a leading company using proprietary taste receptor-based assays, screening technologies and optimization chemistry to discover and develop novel flavors, flavor enhancers, and taste modulators for the packaged food and beverage industry. Senomyx's current programs focus on the development of these flavor ingredients in the savory, sweet, salt, and bitter areas. Senomyx has entered into product discovery and development collaborations with seven of the world's leading packaged food and beverage companies: Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell Soup Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Kraft Foods Global, Inc., Nestle SA, and Solae, LLC. For more information, please visit http://www.senomyx.com.
Forward-Looking Statement Statements included in this press release that are not a description of fact are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, our ability to identify potential flavor ingredients, the product categories our products will address, the size of the commercial opportunity for our products, and plans for additional collaborations. The inclusion of forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by us that any of our plans, projections or future financial, scientific or business objectives will be achieved. Our actual results may differ materially from any projected future results set forth in this release as a result of the risks and uncertainties inherent in our business including, without limitation, difficulties or delays in developing, testing, obtaining regulatory approval, producing and marketing our flavors, flavor enhancers, taste modulators and related technologies; whether we will be able to enter into additional collaborations; our ability to collect royalties under our collaborations; the progress and timing of our scientific programs; changes in the laws or regulations of the United States and other countries that could adversely affect our and our collaborators' ability to develop and commercialize our products; whether any of our collaborations will result in the discovery and development of novel flavor ingredients, enhance the nutritional profile of products incorporating them or otherwise enhance our market position; our ability to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology and to maintain and enforce our patents and licensing arrangements with various third party licensors; our ability to define the scope and validity of patent protection for our products and technologies; competition from other companies and flavor manufacturers and other risks detailed in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2007. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and we undertake no obligation to revise or update this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
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