Sareum Holdings PLC - Extension of Collaboration

RNS Number:0859R
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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