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Senomyx Announces Issuance of a New U.S. Patent Covering the Human Taste Receptor That Responds to Sweet and Savory Tastes
Wednesday, July 18, 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. 7,244,835, "T1R Taste Receptors and Genes Encoding Same." The new patent contains broad claims covering the human T1R3 taste receptor. This taste receptor is a subunit of both the human umami (savory) and sweet taste receptors. The new patent therefore covers a taste receptor that is useful for identifying compounds that affect both sweet and umami taste. The patent extends the intellectual property protection provided by Senomyx's previously issued U.S. Patent No. 7,241,880, U.S. Patent No. 6,955,887, and U.S. Patent No. 7,223,551, which have 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.
"The human sweet taste receptor and the umami receptor share a common subunit, known as hT1R3. This taste receptor subunit is therefore involved in both sweet and umami taste," explained Mark Zoller, Ph.D., Senomyx's Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Discovery and Development. "This new patent expands our previously issued patents that described the use of T1R subunits in assays to identify new flavor ingredients that enhance or impart sweet taste."
"Senomyx's Savory Program is an excellent example of the successful use of our proprietary receptor technology to discover new flavor ingredients," said Kent Snyder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Senomyx. The umami receptor was the basis of assays used to identify novel savory ingredients that have been incorporated into food products that are now being marketed by one of the Company's collaborators.
"We are presently using similar assays with the sweet receptor to screen our extensive libraries of nearly half a million natural extracts and synthetic compounds to discover new sweet taste enhancers and low- or non-caloric natural high potency sweeteners," Snyder added. "The flavor ingredients resulting from our Sweet Enhancer and High Potency Sweetener 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 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. The Company is now the owner or exclusive licensee of 90 issued patents and 321 pending patent applications in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere.
About Senomyx, Inc.
Senomyx (www.senomyx.com) 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., Nestlé 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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