Overview

Operating as a German subsidiary of Exelixis Inc. after an April 2001 merger, Artemis Pharmaceuticals focuses on target validation in zebrafish and mouse models. Artemis uses conditional knockout mice (a system that can turn off a gene in mice in one specific tissue rather than the whole organism) to validate functional data found in zebrafish.

Artemis can validate existing customer candidate genes, or genes discovered in vertebrate and nonvertebrate genetic screens using its Conditional gene-targeting system in mice. The company is looking to undertake disease-related partnerships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

Exelexis purchased Artemis for $23.1 million in stock.

Partners

Strategic alliance for antisense drug discovery research and development of Neugene morpholino antisense agents for functional genomics: AVI BioPharma Inc. and Exelixis Inc.

Other partners include Bayer AG, Cologne University, the Max Plank Institute and Sangamo Biosciences Inc.