Geneva, Switzerland, 17 February 2010 – Addex Pharmaceuticals (SIX:ADXN), the allosteric modulation company, announced today that it will participate at an event hosted by The New York Academy of Sciences entitled, “Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors: Translation from Discovery to Clinical Trials.” Dr. Jean-Philippe Rocher, head of core chemistry at Addex, will discuss the discovery and development of ADX48621 in a talk entitled: “Discovery of a Novel Series of Selective mGluR5 Negative Allosteric Modulators.” ADX48621 has completed Phase I clinical development and is scheduled to start Phase II testing in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Metabotropic glutamate receptors were first described in 1987 and cloned in the early ’90s.  Today they are considered the single most promising new collection of targets for CNS drug discovery, with therapeutic potential to treat illnesses ranging from migraine to esophageal reflux, and from schizophrenia to Parkinson’s disease. 

The symposium, to be held at the New York Academy of Sciences conference center in New York City on February 23, 2010, from 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, brings together national and international experts from academia and industry to present research spanning intramolecular signal transduction, regulation, pharmacology, their role in motor function, and the therapeutic use.

For more information about the event please visit: http://www.nyas.org/metabotropic 

The New York Academy of Sciences is an independent, not-for-profit organization committed to advancing science, technology, and society worldwide since 1817. With 24,000 members in 140 countries, NYAS is creating a global community of science for the benefit of humanity. NYAS' core mission is to advance scientific knowledge, positively impact the major global challenges of society with science-based solutions, and increase the number of scientifically informed individuals in society at large.

Investors and media interested to attend please contact:

Adrienne Burke
Director, Public Outreach
The New York Academy of Science
250 Greenwich St., 40th floor
New York, NY 10007
+1 (212) 298-8655 
aburke(at)nyas.org 


Addex Pharmaceuticals (www.addexpharma.com) utilizes its unique proprietary platform technologies to discover and develop allosteric modulators for human health. Allosteric modulators are a different kind of orally available small molecule therapeutic agent, which we believe will offer a competitive advantage over classical drugs. With 15 programs in development, the Addex pipeline demonstrates the productivity and broad potential of our unparalleled platform technologies. The most advanced product, ADX48621, an mGluR5 negative allosteric modulator (NAM), has completed Phase I testing and is scheduled to start Phase II testing for Parkinson’s disease levodopa associated dyskinesia (PD-LID) later this year.

Our products and technology already have proven their value through our relationships with four of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world. Specifically, under an agreement with Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, ADX71149, an mGluR2 positive allosteric modulator (PAM), is undergoing Phase I clinical testing and has potential for treatment of schizophrenia and anxiety. Under two separate agreements with Merck & Co., Inc., we are developing PAMs of mGluR4 and mGluR5 as drugs to treat Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia, respectively. In addition, SR-One, the corporate venture arm of GlaxoSmithKline, and Roche Venture Fund have made equity investments in Addex.  

Chris Maggos
Investor Relations & Communications
Addex Pharmaceuticals
+41 22 884 15 11
chris.maggos(at)addexpharma.com


Disclaimer: The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "not approvable", "continue", "believes", "believe", "will", "remained open to exploring", "would", "could", or similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions regarding Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd, its business, the potential approval of its products by regulatory authorities, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results with allosteric modulators of mGluR4, mGluR2, mGluR5 or other therapeutic targets to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that allosteric modulators of mGluR4, mGluR2 or mGluR5 will be approved for sale in any market or by any regulatory authority. Nor can there be any guarantee that allosteric modulators of mGluR4, mGluR2, mGluR5 or other therapeutic targets will achieve any particular levels of revenue (if any) in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding  allosteric modulators of mGluR4, mGluR2, mGluR5 or other therapeutic targets could be affected by, among other things, unexpected actions by our partners, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; unexpected clinical trial results, including unexpected new clinical data and unexpected additional analysis of existing clinical data; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Addex Pharmaceuticals is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.