Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | September 3, 2010 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Cyprotex, Epistem, INC Research, Jubilant, Laxal PharmaÂ
A round-up of recent news from the CRO sector, featuring updates from Cyprotex, INC Research, Laxai Pharma, Asuragen, Jubilant Organosys and Epistem.
UK company Cyprotex has launched a new in vitro toxicology service – called Cyprotox – supported by a new 90 sq.m. laboratory unit at its facility in Macclesfield. The unit can carry out high-content screening (HCS) studies as well as a range of other analyses such as reactive metabolite detection, mitochondrial toxicity, genotoxicity assessments and drug-drug interaction assays. The UK unit offers the same functionality as the US lab Apredica, which Cyprotex acquired last month.
Contract research organisation INC Research has agreed to be purchased by private equity group Avista Capital Partners and an investment subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan pension fund for an estimated $600 million, according to a Bloomberg report. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year. INC employs 2,000 research staff and conducts clinical trials in more than 40 countries around the world.
Recent set-up CRO Laxai Pharma has reported revenues of $1.7 million in the first half of 2010, along with a net operating loss of $1.3 million thanks largely to its purchase of US firm OSR Solutions in March for $3.6 million. The company, which formerly focused on the biofuels business, has also just signed its first purchase order for chemistry-related services for its newly-created subsidiary Laxai Life Sciences.
US-based CRO Asuragen has added testing for two cancer-related genes – KRAS and BRAF – to the portfolio of analytical services offered at its laboratory in Austin, Texas. KRAS and BRAF mutations are associated with poor response to cancer therapies based on inhibiting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).
India’s Jubilant Organosys says it has signed two long-term contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) agreements with unnamed US life sciences companies with an estimated value of $51 million and $33 million, respectively. The company said the new deals had pushed its CRAMS order book above $1 billion, according to a report on the CNBC-TV18 news channel.
Veritas Corp will market Epistem‘s contract research services in Japan under a new agreement signed by the two firms. UK-based Epistem operates a dedicated CRO unit which specialises in preclinical and scientific research in the areas of oncology, mucositis, inflammatory bowel disease, wound healing and skincare.
Phil Taylor
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