Accelrys and Axxima collaborate to speed up drug discovery

San Diego, California, USA; Munich, Germany, June 18 2003

Accelrys, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pharmacopeia Inc. (Nasdaq: PCOP), today unveiled a three-year software licensing agreement with Axxima(R) Pharmaceuticals AG. Axxima will apply Accelrys’ molecular modeling technology to target important infectious diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis C, and tuberculosis. The aim is to speed up the discovery of novel drugs to treat these diseases. Accelrys’ software supports Axxima’s strategy to fully integrate molecular modeling within its Medicinal Chemistry Department, improving communication between chemists and modelers and leading to a more efficient process.

A key element in the agreement is Accelrys’ LigandFit software which offers a broad range of structure-based design capabilities to allow rapid evaluation of thousands of drug-like molecules against protein target sites. LigandFit calculates the likelihood that a compound will interact strongly with a protein target, indicating promising lead compounds. Accelrys scientists will continue to work closely with Axxima to extend the validation of LigandFit for protein kinases, the primary class of targets studied by Axxima. This collaborative validation will enable Axxima to quantify virtual high throughput screening hits and to reach more rapid and reliable hypotheses.

“We are convinced that LigandFit is a very promising technology and we are confident that it will optimize workflow and throughput in our drug discovery programs,” states Dr. Andrea Missio, director of chemistry at Axxima. “It was also important to us that Accelrys could address all of our computational chemistry needs within a single environment.”

“This agreement not only provides Axxima with a valuable research tool,” emphasizes Dr. Scott Kahn, chief science officer at Accelrys, “but it is also supported by joint projects to expand validation of our science in an important class of disease targets. The Accelrys approach is to work closely with cutting-edge research organizations to optimize our technology and to improve the impact of our science.”

Protein kinases play a vital role in cellular communication. Amongst other functions, they are involved in passing on signals by switching on or off the activities of other proteins. Disturbances in cellular communication frequently lead to diseases. For example, agents that cause infectious diseases manipulate the cellular messaging system of their host for their own purposes in order to propagate themselves.

About Accelrys

Accelrys is a leading provider of software for computation, simulation, and the management and mining of scientific data used by biologists, chemists, and materials scientists for product design, drug discovery, and development. Accelrys’ platform technology and consulting services enable enterprise-wide solutions tailored to today’s leading research organizations. The company’s two main centers of excellence are in San Diego, and Cambridge, UK. These centers combine research and product development with facilities to support significant collaborative projects. Accelrys is a subsidiary of Pharmacopeia, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCOP).

About Axxima

Axxima(R) Pharmaceuticals AG is a drug discovery and development company, pioneering the revolutionary approach of generating a “Signal Transduction Firewall(R)” to combat infections, related disorders and diseases, such as inflammation. The most advanced projects include HIV, hepatitis C, tuberculosis and HCMV. Tapping its pipeline, Axxima plans to out-license, sell or partner products at defined development stages to customers in the pharmaceutical industry. Typical products are compounds in pre-clinical or clinical development, optimized lead compounds or selected validated targets. Additionally, Axxima intends to partner its drug discovery technology in indications outside Axxima’s core focus areas. By blocking critical signal transduction pathways required by pathogens for their survival, Axxima’s compounds address entirely novel mechanisms for fighting resistance formation. Whereas the goal of conventional medications is to target the disease causing pathogen directly, the new generation of drugs developed by Axxima will prevent the pathogen hijacking the communication system of the cell for their own purposes. This entirely novel drug discovery strategy for combating resistance formation is generating a completely new spectrum of small molecule drugs, with novel mechanisms of action, to address the market’s urgent need for novel approaches in major therapeutic areas. In three private financing rounds, Axxima has received a total of 56 million Euro from German and international investors. Lead investor of the third financing round was Bear Stearns Health Innoventures, New York. The previous financing rounds were led by Techno Venture Management of Munich, Germany. The Company currently employs a total staff of 90, located at Axxima’s headquarters in Munich, Germany, and at its Hungarian subsidiary Vichem Kft. in Budapest. Further information about Axxima can be found at http://www.axxima.com