Paris, FRANCE September 17, 2009 - Aureus Pharma, a leading provider of knowledge management solutions to accelerate discovery in the life sciences industry, announces today the release of the 2009 Edition of DDI Predict. This innovative software application adds a number of enhancements to assess the risk of potential drug-drug interactions including those involving multiple enzymatic pathways.

Drug-Drug interactions (DDIs) are a major concern in the pharmaceutical industry today. DDIs have led to several drugs being removed from the market due to adverse effects, making it essential for pharmaceutical researchers to investigate and understand potential drug-drug interactions as early in the drug development process as possible.

DDI Predict 2009 Edition provides an instant graphical report containing all potential drug-drug interactions between a drug candidate and a large panel of marketed or withdrawn drugs.

The predictions are supported by calculation of the change of the AUC ratio based on the plasma concentration of the drug candidate in the presence or absence of enzyme inhibitors. The system uses a large library containing more than 7,000 inhibition and 8,000 PK data points, measured on 1,500 drugs stored in the Aureus ADME database to calculate potential interactions. The Aureus ADME Knowledge database contains a total 25,000 compounds, 3,500 metabolites, 365,000 biological data points, analyzed out from more than 11,000 articles and FDA documents.

The new Edition extends the prediction of drug-drug interaction in cases where multiple metabolic pathways are involved and provides new functionalities including prediction of fraction metabolized (fm) based on scaling factors (RAF, ISEF, Abundance), gut metabolism and others.

Aureus will present and demonstrate DDI Predict 2009 Edition at the 16th North American Regional ISSX Meeting on October 18 - 22, 2009 at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland.

About Aureus Pharma
Aureus Pharma provides a range of scientific knowledge solutions enabling biopharmaceutical companies to better understand the relationships of biological targets to compounds under evaluation.

Aureus scientists continuously monitor and organize the most relevant information from the scientific literature, including experimental in vitro and in vivo protocols. This detailed knowledge forms the AurSCOPE® database line, focusing on the human body’s main therapeutic targets: GPCRs, Kinases, Ion Channels, Proteases and Nuclear Receptors. Additional AurSCOPE® databases relate to safety, toxicology, and pharmacokinetics (ADME, hERG).

Consolidating all the therapeutic targets, the AurSCOPE® Global Pharmacology Space (GPS) provides researchers with the most comprehensive available coverage of the “druggable” genome. Applications include AurQUEST®, the web-based query tool, DDI Predict® for drug-drug interactions, and AurPROFILER®, the compound profiling visualization tool.

Headquartered in Paris, France, Aureus Pharma’s information solutions are proven to streamline the discovery process for many of the world’s most successful biopharmaceutical companies and leading research institutions.