Extension of Collaboration

Sareum Holdings PLC 31 March 2008 For immediate release 31 March 2008 SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC ("Sareum" or the "Company") Extension of Collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drug discovery business, is pleased to announce that Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., (J&JPRD) has chosen to extend its collaborative agreement with Sareum for another six months, with an option for further extension. Under the terms of the agreement, Sareum will apply its skills in high throughput protein structure determination to provide insight and expertise in developing new and improved therapeutics to help patients suffering from diseases of the central nervous system. In return, Sareum will receive research fees and success-dependent milestone payments. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Commenting on the agreement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell, said: "We are very pleased to have supported J&JPRD's programs over the last 12 months, and look forward to continuing this important relationship. The successful delivery on relationships with leading companies is a key component of our business strategy. " For further information: Sareum Holdings 01223 497700 Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000 Mary-Jane Johnson, Tim Anderson Grant Thornton Corporate Finance 020 7383 5100 Philip Secrett, Colin Aaronson Notes for editors: About Sareum Holdings plc Sareum Holdings plc is a structure-based drug discovery business headquartered in Cambridge, UK. The Company was formed in August 2003 to discover new drugs for the treatment of cancer. Sareum's unique approach aims to halve the time it takes to discover new drug candidates. A structure-based approach to drug discovery relies on knowledge of the three-dimensional structure of the proteins that cause disease. Once the structure is known, potential drugs are designed to 'lock-in' to the protein with the aim of reversing or arresting a disease's progression. Knowledge of the structure of the potential drugs and how they 'lock-in' to their target protein assists greatly in the development of high-quality drug candidates. Determining structure is a complex task and requires leading-edge equipment and experienced staff. Sareum's approach to structure determination utilises its proprietary protein expression platform in order to produce multiple recombinant proteins that accelerate structure determination using x-ray crystallography. Once the structure is determined, the Company's innovative fragment screening platform is used to identify novel chemical templates designed to interact with the target protein. Sareum then uses its high-throughput medicinal chemistry platform to rapidly optimise these molecules and develop the most promising into potential drug candidates. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to larger pharmaceutical companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage. This is funded by provision of its specialist drug discovery capabilities to partners in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Sareum joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2004 and trades under the symbol SAR. For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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