Icos Corp. is beginning a research collaboration with OregonHealth Sciences University (OHSU) on novel localization proteinsfor certain enzymes believed responsible for triggering disease.

Icos will have exclusive rights to the technology, which itdeclined to discuss in more detail. The university, in return,may receive future royalties on certain products, and theprinciple investigators will receive laboratory support.

"The agreement allows Icos to extend its efforts in the areas ofselective enzyme modulation," said Christopher Henney,executive vice president and scientific director. The companywill collaborate with investigator John Scott at OHSU. Heworked for Edwin Krebs, who won the Nobel Prize in medicinein 1992 for his work in protein kinases. Scott's work involvesthe localization of phosphorilization of enzymes, he saidThursday.

Icos (NASDAQ:ICOS) of Seattle, develops medications for chronicinflammatory diseases. Primary targets include asthma,multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

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