Allergan and ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Announce New Drug Discovery and Development Collaboration

Collaboration to Pursue Numerous Target-Specific Chemistries in Eye Care and Other Indications

SAN DIEGO, CA, April 15, 2003 – ACADIA Pharmaceuticals announced today it has established a new drug discovery and development collaboration with Allergan, Inc. (NYSE: AGN). The collaboration, which will focus predominantly on eye care applications, combines ACADIA’s chemical-genomics platform and discovery assets with Allergan’s world-class expertise in the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative new therapeutics. This new agreement represents the parties’ third major collaboration since 1997.

The collaboration will leverage ACADIA’s extensive base of biological and chemical assets, including novel chemistries that ACADIA has identified for a wide range of G-protein coupled receptor and nuclear receptor targets. Under the agreement, the parties will use these target-specific chemistries to explore a range of discovery opportunities. Allergan will have the exclusive right to license chemistry and related assets for up to three drug targets. ACADIA will receive an upfront payment, research funding and additional fees over a three-year term. ACADIA is also eligible to receive license fees and milestone payments as well as royalties on future product sales worldwide. Assuming the successful development of a product for just one of the drug targets, ACADIA will receive up to $32 million in aggregate payments, excluding royalties.

“This collaboration provides Allergan with an opportunity to explore potential drug targets and novel chemistries for eye care and other strategic applications,” said Lester J. Kaplan, Ph.D., Allergan’s President of R&D. “We look forward to the discovery of new therapeutic approaches for a range of important indications.”

“We are delighted to expand our strong scientific collaboration with Allergan,” said Mark R. Brann, Ph.D., President and CSO of ACADIA. “Our teams work very well together, and the science of this new collaboration is going to be especially exciting. With so many target-specific chemistries, we have an unprecedented number of approaches to explore. Combining this with Allergan’s exceptional strength in eye care research, we hope to identify completely new approaches to the treatment of various ophthalmic diseases.”

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals is a drug discovery and development company that efficiently discovers novel small molecule drug candidates using its proprietary chemical-genomics platform. ACADIA has applied its platform to generate a broad discovery pipeline directed at large unmet medical needs including Parkinson’s disease, chronic pain, psychosis, and glaucoma. Two of ACADIA’s drug candidates have been successfully advanced from initial discovery to clinical development, and several additional programs are in late-stage preclinical testing. ACADIA’s corporate headquarters as well as its biological research facilities are located in San Diego, California and its chemistry research facilities are located in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Allergan, Inc., with headquarters in Irvine, California, is a technology-driven, global health care company providing eye care and specialty pharmaceutical products worldwide. Allergan develops and commercializes products in the eye care, neuromodulator and skin care markets that deliver value to our customers, satisfy unmet medical needs, and improve patients’ lives.

Contacts:
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals
Mark R. Brann, Ph.D., President and CSO
Douglas E. Richards, VP of Business Development
+1 858 558 2871