Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. is a post-genomics, drug discovery and development company that uses bioinformatics to build a strong pipeline of product candidates and actual drugs. The Company employs applied genomics in its KinAce™ platform, a novel, kinase-based approach to identify drug leads rapidly.

Kinases are proteins that exist inside cells and direct much of the cell's activities and functions. Much like the cell's telephone system, kinases transmit information both within the cell, and between the cell's nucleus and its surrounding tissue. Significantly, kinases and their signal transmissions appear to be involved in most, if not all, disease states.

As the mapping of the human genome has uncovered specific kinases and their particular functions, Keryx has applied its proprietary algorithm to the mapped kinases to identify particular spots on the kinase sequence that are involved in kinase regulation. The concept behind the KinAce approach is that once a specific kinase is implicated in disease, a compound can be created that modifies the kinase so as to treat the disease. The resulting therapeutic lead is highly specific and, because it is so highly targeted, it potentially presents very low toxicity profile.

The success of the KinAce approach is evidenced by its production of 13 lead compounds - of which nine have shown positive results in in vivo tests. Of these, a compound that targets advanced hormone-resistant prostate cancer (KRX-123) is in late-stage pre-clinical development.

Keryx's KinAce bioinformatics algorithm allows researchers to progress from initial analysis of a mapped kinase to a therapeutic compound in less than four months. By contrast, using standard industry practices (e.g., high-throughput screening) can require up to four years to produce a therapeutic lead. The KinAce platform positions Keryx for success.

Keryx also has an in-licensed compound to treat diabetic kidney disease. This product, KRX-101, which is in advanced clinical development, has shown significant efficacy in treating the condition, known as diabetic nephropathy. In addition, the product has already been used safely in Europe to treat cardiovascular disease for more than 20 years.

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals is a US-based company with R&D and manufacturing facilities in Israel. The Company is traded on Nasdaq (KERX) and on AIM (KRX).