BALTIMORE, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- FASgen, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has entered into a research and license agreement with Centocor, Inc. This agreement will give Centocor, Inc. and its Ortho Biotech Oncology Research and Development division affiliates the opportunity to discover and develop novel small molecule inhibitors of the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway via selective inhibition of Fatty Acid Synthase (FAS) for use in Oncology. The FASgen researchers have extensive experience studying the over-expression of FAS, an enzyme over-expressed in virtually all solid tumors. The inhibition of FAS causes tumor cell apoptosis and holds promise for new therapeutic treatments for cancer.

The economic terms of the research collaboration were not disclosed.

About FASgen, Inc.: FASgen, Inc. is a drug development company founded in 2000 by four distinguished Johns Hopkins researchers to create new therapeutic products based on the selective inhibition of fatty acid biosynthesis. The Company has the exclusive license from Johns Hopkins to more than 15 years of research in the field, which research continues under a sponsored research agreement with the University. The Company has designed and synthesized many compounds that selectively inhibit fatty acid biosynthesis. One group of these compounds holds great promise for new highly specific therapeutics for cancer. Additional compounds have the potential of specific therapeutics for obesity and related metabolic disorders including diabetes, dysplipidemia fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. A final group of compounds have the potential of specific therapeutics against TB, including multiple drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and latent TB infections that affect one third of the world's population. For more information, visit FASgen's website at www.fasgen.com.

Source: FASgen, Inc.