Saffron Walden, UK; 27 July 2009 – BioFocus DPI and Oncodesign announced today that they have joined forces to offer a comprehensive oncology drug discovery service. The alliance combines BioFocus DPI’s target discovery and screening capabilities with Oncodesign’s experimental pharmacological and biomarker expertise in oncology. In addition, the partners will contribute their complementary medicinal chemistry expertise to form a drug discovery service specialized in the rapid generation of promising anticancer drug candidates.
“Oncodesign’s extensive experience in developing anticancer therapeutics complements BioFocus DPI’s medicinal chemistry and biology expertise, creating a focused oncology drug discovery offering that can move rapidly from hit finding to pre-clinical candidate,” said Chris Newton, Senior Vice President, BioFocus DPI. “As the industry’s understanding of disease pathways has grown considerably in recent years, the need for specialized drug discovery services has also grown. We expect that our current and future customers will benefit greatly from the synergies that this alliance offers.” “This alliance with BioFocus DPI corresponds with our vision of offering comprehensive drug discovery expertise in the field of oncology,” Oncodesign’s President and CEO, Philippe Genne, stated. “We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity of collaborating with an internationally recognized drug discovery company of BioFocus DPI’s caliber. This, combined with our extensive oncology experience and ongoing drug and biomarker discovery strategy will allow our clients to benefit from fully-integrated target validation to clinical candidate selection services.”
About BioFocus DPI
BioFocus DPI aims to expand its partners’ drug pipelines by accelerating the gene-to-drug candidate discovery process. This is achieved through a comprehensive discovery platform, which includes target discovery in human primary cells, focused as well as diverse compound libraries, in vitro and cell-based screening, structural biology, medicinal chemistry, ADME/PK services, supported by unique chemogenomic and informatics tools, and compound library acquisition, storage and distribution services. As the service division of Galapagos, BioFocus DPI has over 250 employees in four countries worldwide.
About Oncodesign
Founded in 1995, Oncodesign is a leader in the preclinical and translational evaluation of anti-cancer therapies. With oncology-focused services ranging from rapid in vitro and in vivo proof-of–concept to translational and biomarker approaches supported by a comprehensive preclinical imaging platform, Oncodesign positions molecules into the most effective clinical development programs. Its integrated oncology discovery platform and pharmacological-based “Qualifying Approach” creates a continuum between drug targets, molecules, experimental models and human patients that offers fully integrated oncology research capabilities building on internal and partnered innovation platforms and extensive R&D expertise.
