Released on: January 6, 2008, 11:15 pm

Press Release Author: PRHUB Integrated Marketing Communications Pvt Ltd

Industry: Pharmaceuticals

Press Release Summary: Bangalore, January 07, 2008: Cellworks Research India Ltd,
the R&D wing of California based company Cellworks Group Inc and the first company
in Asia to build Systems Biology based drug discovery solutions has successfully
helped Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a leading Indian Pharma company in
its ongoing New Chemical Entity research program. Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals
Ltd., is the first India based Pharma to adopt System Biology technology from
Cellworks in order to improve its Drug Discovery efficacy.

Press Release Body: Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Cellworks entered
into a collaborative agreement in early 2006 with an aim of incorporating new
technologies to New Chemical Entity (NCE) research program being initiated by Orchid
Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Cellworks with its expertise in Systems Biology
leveraged its Inflammation in silico platform comprising of various cell types like
Macrophage and T-Cell. The aim behind this project was the identification of
mechanism of action of key drugs being used in Industry to treat Inflammation
disorders. Getting a clear understanding of the underlying Drug Mechanism and
associated toxicities were the driving factors behind this project.

This collaborative research helped in understanding the comprehensive pros and cons
of the various drug targets and mechanism. Cellworks technology of automated
assertion helped in the identification of the key cellular-level bio-markers in the
system for each of the drugs individually and in combination and their corresponding
implications. Using Cellworks platform of Systems Biology made it possible to
overlay the effect of all the drugs and visualize how a given biological node or an
endpoint is affected by the different drugs.

According to Dr.C. Bhaktavatsala Rao, Deputy Managing Director, Orchid Chemicals &
Pharmaceuticals Ltd. - "The need to understand the detailed mechanisms of actions,
biological targets and associated pros and cons of the landscape of key drugs is
essential for a differentiated New Molecule Entity project. We\'ve been closely
working with the Cellworks solution for one of our key internal Drug Discovery
projects and were able to quickly ascertain which biological receptor target to
focus on . We believe that the adoption of the Systems Biology platform from
Cellworks will significantly improve our overall Drug discovery methodology. Close
collaboration with Cellworks expands our disease biology skills and enables us to
deliver better efficacy drugs with contained side-effects to our customers".

According to Dr. Anandkumar, Chairman Board of Cellworks Research India Ltd - "The
collaboration between Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Cellworks is
ongoing in different drug discovery areas pertaining to Inflammation. It's very
exciting to note than an India based company is taking the lead in incorporating
bleeding edge ideas into drug discovery related Research and Development. On behalf
of Cellworks - we really appreciate this partnership opportunity and look forward to
building up this collaborative research in coming years."

According to Taher Abbasi, CEO of Cellworks - "We are today working with several
partner-collaborators and it is gratifying to see that our very first Industrial
overture is starting to produce high value results. We are very happy at providing
value to Orchid's Drug discovery program and in the process Cellworks has taken a
leadership position in very important but poorly understood areas like disease
progression".

About Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals:
Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd a globally recognized, integrated
pharmaceutical company with core competencies in the development and manufacture of
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Finished Dosage Forms as well as in
drug discovery. Orchid has been investing aggressively for establishing modern
research and manufacturing facilities aimed at global markets, thus emerging as a
world-class pharmaceutical company covering the entire value chain from "Discovery
to Delivery". More information on Orchid can be found in www.orchidpharma.com

About Cellworks:
Cellworks Group Inc. is a California Incorporated company with its R&D facility
(Cellworks Research India Ltd) based in Bangalore, India. Cellworks adopts a
multi-disciplinary and analytical approach to solve biological problems and is part
of a new technology wave that will change people's perception of the diagnosis and
treatment of human disease. More information regarding Systems Biology approach to
drug discovery and Cellworks expertise can be found in www.cellworksgroup.com
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