Bio Screening Industry News

Hamburg, Germany | Oxford, UK | Oslo, Norway - Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT) announced today that Spermatech A/S has chosen them as a partner to identify small molecule therapeutics for their pharmaceutical discovery project.

Through the study of the physiology of sperm motility, more specifically of “rapid swimmers” that cause fertilisation, Spermatech have identified bio-logical targets that could be exploited in the development of non-hormonal reversible male contraceptives. On this basis, Evotec and Spermatech have defined a strategy for a tailored drug discovery project. Evotec will apply its expertise and proprietary technologies in assay development, high throughput screening and NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) screening to identify inhibitors of the sperm specific target protein. The screening will be performed with Evotec’s screening library of 250,000 drug-like compounds. Compounds will be identified that reduce sperm motility and will be used in the development of non-hormonal reversible male contraceptives at Spermatech. In addition, compounds that promote target activity may be evaluated as supporters of male fertility.

Dr Mark Ashton, Executive Vice President Business Development Services at Evotec, said: “We are extremely pleased that Spermatech has selected Evotec for this interesting project. It will allow us to use our com-bined technologies in assay development, high-throughput screening and NMR screening to identify the most promising candidates in the therapeutic field. Evotec’s highly diverse compound library is a good starting point to identify such active molecules and the additional results from NMR investi-gations of the hits with the target protein will provide the medicinal chemists with useful information to support subsequent drug design.”

“We were impressed by Evotec’s highly specialized and integrated capabili-ties. The collaboration will provide us with access to state-of-the-art assay development and screening technology and expertise together with a high quality library of small molecules. We are confident that this will provide an excellent starting point and valuable information to progress the molecules into more advanced stages. We really appreciated that during the initial scientific discussions of the project Evotec clearly demonstrated a results-oriented spirit in support of our project:” commented Eirik Næss-Ulseth, Chief Executive Officer, Spermatech.

Forward looking statements
Information set forth in this report contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the anticipated benefits of Evotec’s products and services, the payments that Evotec may receive under its collaboration agreement with Spermatech, the anticipated timing and results of Evotec’s clinical and pre-clinical programs, and other statements that are not historical facts. Evotec cautions readers that any forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information as a result of risks and uncertainties. These include risks and uncertainties relating to: Evotec’s ability to complete the merger because conditions to the closing of the merger may not be satisfied; the failure to successfully integrate the businesses of Evotec and Renovis; unexpected costs or liabilities resulting from the merger; the risk that synergies from the merger may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; disruption from the merger making it more difficult to maintain relationships with customers, employees or suppliers; competition and its effect on pricing, spending, third-party relationships and revenues; the need to develop new products and adapt to significant technological change; implementation of strategies for improving internal growth; development, use and protection of intellectual property; general worldwide economic conditions and related uncertainties; future legislative, regulatory, or tax changes as well as other economic, business and/or competitive factors; and the effect of exchange rate fluctuations on international operations.

The risks included above are not exhaustive. The Registration Statement on Form F-4 filed by Evotec with the Securities and Exchange Commission contains additional factors that could impact the combined company’s businesses and financial performance. The parties expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in the parties’ expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

New Hope, PA — (SBWIRE) — 10/10/2007 — Bucks County’s Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research (IHVR) and BioLeap have entered into a collaboration to develop new therapeutic compounds for the treatment of Hepatitis C. Up to 50% of patients treated with current standard therapies do not respond adequately and often suffer serious side effects from the drugs. Thus there is a critical need for new tools to treat this disease. By combining BioLeap’s leading edge computational fragment-based design capabilities with the IHVR’s extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of viral diseases, the collaboration will result in new classes of lead drug molecules with novel modes-of-action.

Of particular interest to the IHVR is BioLeap’s proprietary technology that rapidly calculates the free energies, or affinities of interactions between small molecular fragments of potential drugs and biomolecular structures of the proteins they will target, displaying the distribution and orientation of these fragments. This information provides a unique insight into how small molecules bind into key protein binding sites that cannot be achieved from the static crystal structure alone, or from methods that can only measure the enthalpic properties of binding. In addition to lead discovery, the quantitative free-energy based analysis of protein-drug-fragment interactions adds significant value to the lead optimization process. In combination, this proprietary approach provides chemists and biologists the information they need to assemble, fragment by fragment, a completely new molecule that not only optimally binds to the targeted protein site but also has properties desirable in a drug, including solubility and bioavailability.

Commenting on the collaboration, BioLeap’s Gerry Evans, Executive Vice President of BioLeap, noted: “Dr. Tim Block and his team at the IHVR are renowned for their work in this field. We are very excited by the opportunity to focus our combined expertise on this important target.”

Dr. Tim Block, president of the IHVR, is enthusiastic about the prospects for this collaboration. “One approach in discovering new treatments is the time and labor intensive process of screening tens or hundreds of thousands of molecules from compound libraries. BioLeap’s technology provides a potential shortcut by eliminating the need to screen compound libraries, while significantly broadening the field of chemical diversity. The molecules designed by BioLeap are not limited by what is present in any compound library. This greatly increases our odds of finding a potential drug that precisely targets the hepatitis C virus and that will not easily succumb to viral resistance. Once BioLeap has identified several candidate molecules, our scientists will test their effectiveness on the hepatitis C virus. Based on these results, we will repeat this iterative process until we have found the ideal drug.”

About the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research:
Established as the research arm of the Hepatitis B Foundation, the mission of the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research is to use discovery science to find new therapies for viral hepatitis and liver cancer; to advance its research discoveries through traditional scholarship and educational opportunities; to nurture biotechnology through technology transfer and new company formation; and to promote public health outreach programs to improve the quality of life for those with viral hepatitis.

About BioLeap:
Bioleap is a leader in computational fragment-based drug design. The company’s proprietary design technology and process successfully addresses one of the biggest problems in preclinical drug discovery: limited chemical diversity of compound libraries. Development collaborations span a broad spectrum of target proteins including: kinases, nuclear hormone receptors, metalloenzymes, and metalloproteases.

Over the course of three days, experts in drug screening from around the globe will assemble to discuss the latest applications of Cisbio’s proprietary HTRF® technology in the drug screening, target discovery and mechanistic fields.  A number of scientific sessions will specifically examine GPCR and kinase screening, cell-based biomarker detection and functional assays. 

HTRF® (homogenous time-resolved fluorescence) technology is a highly sensitive, robust technology for the detection of molecular interactions and is widely used for the high throughput stage of drug development. As part of its ongoing commitment to providing the highest quality technical support to HTRF® customers, Cisbio established its annual symposium in 2005 as a forum for exchanging ideas on drug screening and the latest in HTRF® innovation

HAMBURG, Germany and OXFORD, England, July 11, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Evotec AG and Research Support International Limited (RSIL), a subsidiary of DIL Ltd, announced today the formation of a joint venture in India, Evotec-RSIL Ltd, to design, synthesise and manage compound libraries as a service. The joint venture will combine Evotec’s expertise in library design, synthesis, analysis, purification and project management with RSIL’s first class scientists coupled with a low cost structure in India to provide a high quality, cost efficient solution for the provision and management of compound libraries to the pharmaceutical industry.

The pharmaceutical industry is seeking cost efficient solutions for the continual enhancement of their screening libraries. Whilst looking for cost effectiveness, the design and synthesis of high quality compounds using strong project management is critical. Evotec has a strong track record in this field as exemplified by collaborations with companies such as Bayer, Merck & Co. Inc, Almirall Prodesfarma, Roche and Solvay. RSIL is a well established contract research organisation located on a scientific campus in Thane, a suburb of Mumbai, India. It has offered chemistry services for over two decades to pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide.

The joint venture will be located in Thane, India, and will use newly constructed, state-of-the-art laboratories. Evotec will contribute its proprietary technologies, years of experience and expertise in library synthesis in addition to providing a range of parallel synthesis equipment, high throughput analytical apparatus and expert training in the design, synthesis and management of compound libraries.

Evotec-RSIL Ltd will design compound libraries of low hundreds to thousands of compounds per scaffold by accessing chemistries already validated at Evotec and/or RSIL. As well as being able to design and synthesise compound libraries the joint venture will also offer library management services in which it will be able to analyse and purify large screening libraries in a cost efficient manner.

“Evotec has enjoyed an enviable reputation in the synthesis of large screening and focused libraries for many years. Through this joint venture we are able to team up with the excellent scientists and management at RSIL to continue to provide this invaluable service at competitive prices for our customers. We are very pleased to collaborate with RSIL, one of India’s premier chemistry services business”, commented Dr Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec. “With the formation of this joint venture through a contribution in kind of Evotec’s library business, Evotec is making another significant step in its strategy to focus its core business in Europe on high value solutions and products for the pharmaceutical industry.”

Commenting on the joint venture RSIL’s Director, Irfan Bandukwalla, said: “We are delighted to partner with Evotec in offering the design, synthesis and management of compound libraries to the pharmaceutical industry. This joint venture will be able to address the ever growing need of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies who want to outsource their library synthesis needs to highly skilled partners who offer expertise, experience and solutions at cost effective rates.

Both RSIL and Evotec have an excellent and well established understanding and track record of providing services to the global pharmaceutical industry. Through our complimentary skills our customers will derive added value, which is so necessary to grow in this competitive business, thus addressing the ever growing desire for a win-win situation for all concerned.”

Adjusted for the library business, Evotec’s 2006 revenues would have amounted to EUR 60.8 million (2006 revenues reported: EUR 67.4 million).

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is launching a new effort to study infectious diseases that preferentially affect women. The center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research (cWIDR) will focus on issues such as:

• microorganisms that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) and other conditions that make urination and intercourse painful or difficult

• infections that lead to premature delivery and vaginitis

• potential contributing roles for microorganisms in life-threatening conditions such as cancer, heart disease, neurodegenerative disorders and diabetes.

“Infectious diseases of women is a tremendously underserved area,” says Scott Hultgren, Ph.D., the Helen L. Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology and the center’s director and principal investigator. “UTIs, for example, are one of the most common bacterial infections in women. They’re not fatal, but we need new and improved therapeutics because they’re a very significant cause of suffering, lost work days and health-care expenses.”

According to Hultgren, the center continues a University tradition of innovation and leadership in microbiology and infectious diseases. Stephen Beverley, Ph.D., Marvin A. Brennecke Professor and head of molecular microbiology, founded the center’s predecessor, the Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) in 1997. He recently stepped down as director of CIDR and designated Hultgren as his successor.

Hultgren’s research has long been focused on women’s health and infectious diseases, with studies funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He has also been active in the Office of Research on Women’s Health, an agency that coordinates and advises on women’s health research throughout the National Institutes of Health.

Given those interests and experiences, Hultgren decided to reconceptualize CIDR and its goals, altering the center’s name to reflect the changes.

The center for Woman’s Infectious Disease Research is part of the University’s BioMed 21 initiative, which is focusing efforts at Washington University on speedy translation of laboratory discoveries into new approaches for diagnosis and treatment of patients.

According to Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean at the School of Medicine, studying gender-specific infections can reveal information that is helpful in a much broader range of diseases.

“Scott’s work with urinary tract infections has led to insight into how the bacteria that cause these infections sometimes defend themselves by cooperating to form a protective shield known as a biofilm,” he says. “Many common infections of both men and women employ this defense against antibiotics and the host immune system, and to improve treatment for these infections we have to devise medicines that can penetrate this shield.”

Other major infectious disease issues specific to women include interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome, a condition estimated to afflict hundreds of thousands of females per year. Symptoms are similar to urinary tract infections and include frequent, painful urination and pain during intercourse. Diagnosis and treatment are difficult because scientists don’t yet know the cause of the condition.

Oral and vaginal infections with streptococcus and other bacteria have been linked to premature delivery in pregnant women. Michael Caparon, Ph.D., professor of molecular microbiology and co-director of the center for Woman’s Infectious Disease Research, plans to bring microbiologists and obstetricians to learn why and determine what can be done.

Fostering collaboration between different disciplines to create new perspectives on the big challenges of biomedicine is a primary goal of BioMed 21. Hultgren plans to establish many connections and collaborations between his center and other research centers, noting the potential for synergy provided by the Center of Genome Sciences and other research groups at the University.

“We see the center for Woman’s Infectious Disease Research as part of a multi-disciplinary network combining a powerful blend of microbial pathogenesis, genomics, structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics, and diverse imaging technologies,” Hultgren says.

As an example, Hultgren’s work with urinary tract infections led to detailed study of pili, fibers produced by the bacteria that cause the infections. Pili allow bacteria to adhere to and invade human tissues, and Hultgren’s laboratory has recently found that they help hold bacteria together in biofilms. These discoveries made it possible to design molecules that block pili formation and may one day lead to improved treatments.

Bacteria also manufacture fibers comprised of substances known as amyloids. Like pili, these materials contribute to biofilm formation and host cell colonization, but they’re much more well-known for the role they play in neurodegenerative disorders and other diseases. Hultgren hopes to recruit experts who can use bacteria to model amyloid formation and design compounds that block their assembly.

“Amyloid plaques in the brain are a primary characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease, a terrible disease affecting women and men, so we plan to offer the inhibitors we develop to neurologists as potential treatments for that disorder,” Hultgren says.

Researchers at the center for Woman’s Infectious Disease Research also will study whether microorganisms are playing a role in serious diseases not previously thought to be related to infection. As evidence of why a search for such connections might prove fruitful, Hultgren highlights the surprising discoveries that infectious agents are responsible for all stomach ulcers and most cervical cancers.

In a newer, more tentative link likely to be further probed at the center for Woman’s Infectious Disease Research, scientists have found that a receptor in the circulatory system responds to both fat deposits and bacterial infections. The receptor is believed to help summon an immune response when it detects the bacteria, and cardiologists speculate that its responsiveness to fat may mean the receptor is also triggering inflammatory responses that contribute to heart disease. If so, blocking the receptors could offer a new path to prevention.

To accelerate the search for new treatments for infectious diseases, Hultgren has established close ties with a local biotech firm, Sequoia Sciences, and with Tom Ellenberger, Ph.D., the Raymond H. Wittcoff Professor and head of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics.

“Tom has started a program for high-throughput screening of small molecules with pharmaceutical potential, and Sequoia has a library of approximately 250,000 antibacterial compounds isolated from plants in collaboration with the Missouri Botanical Garden,” Hultgren explains. “As we develop assays that help us know what we’re looking for in a treatment, we’ll be using those two resources to rapidly seek out compounds that meet our criteria.”

The new center and five new faculty positions will be supported in part by funding from the school’s Departments of Medicine, Molecular Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Cardiology as well as general medical school resources and donors.

“If we can get a synergistic effect going on in terms of the interactions between these and other disciplines, then I really feel we’re going to be able to make a significant difference in women’s health,” Hultgren says.

BioSeek, based in Burlingame, will work with San Diego-based Amylin (NASDAQ: AMLN) on treatments for inflammatory diseases. The work will put Amylin’s proprietary drug compounds through BioSeek’s biological screening systems to seek useful drugs. BioSeek can choose two peptide compounds after screening and develop them if it wishes, paying milestones and royalties to Amylin if it does.

The two companies signed an earlier collaboration last year.

Peter Staple, BioSeek’s CEO, praised the deal as a source of money for his company, as well as a way to gain access to important compounds and research in inflammatory diseases.

New Report by Applied Data Research Analyzes the Impact on Drug Development Timelines

(Nashua, NH) – As the availability of new tools for automating the drug discovery process identifies potential drug candidates at an accelerating rate, the formulation limitations of a majority of these new NCEs is creating a bottleneck in preclinical development. Drug developers are responding by exploring drug formulation technologies – often proprietary processes offered by third parties – to negotiate their way past critical steps in the path to commercializing new chemical entities and driving the financial success of their companies.

Much of the current focus in formulation science is concerned with processes that can improve the solubility of APIs. The importance of solubilization technologies is also underscored by the capability they bestow on formulators attempting to re-formulate approved drugs approaching the end of their patent life.

Issues surrounding water insolubility of active compounds have important business and market implications for new drug development. This impact goes beyond potential future drug therapeutics, effectively limiting reformulation strategies for existing products at a time when extending the market life of proprietary drugs through derivative formulations has become a key business strategy.

Drug formulation technology companies are working with drug developers at pharmaceutical companies to help define the prescription formulations that will enter preclinical development and the clinical trial pipeline in the coming months and years. New formulation capabilities will expand the number of new NCEs that can be formulated to meet pharmacochemical thresholds.

More information is available at www.applieddata.org .

About Applied Data

Applied Data Research is a drug therapeutics consulting firm focused on medical market strategies, product commercialization, venture development, and market research. We assist medical market participants in achieving their business objectives through the creation of detailed business development strategies, product commercialization programs, and comprehensive market and technology research and analysis.

Contact:

Greg Stone

Voice: 603-595-6225

Fax: 603-804-0466

www.applieddata.org

Source: Applied Data Research

HAMBURG, Germany and OXFORD, England, September 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX 30) today reported that during the one month safety and tolerability study with EVT 301 in young and elderly volunteers, several cases of asymptomatic elevated liver function tests in the elderly group have been observed. All cases reversed spontaneously. No cases of elevated liver function tests were observed within the young healthy volunteer group.

In the light of these findings Evotec has stopped the ongoing Phase I trials and has decided today to discontinue the development programme. As the planned Phase II trial with EVT 301 will not be executed this will free approximately EUR 20 million of R&D money over the next two to three years for other development programmes.

“Our strategy is to develop high-quality compounds to later stage development with the goal of monetising these assets for partnering. Successful drug development requires discipline. Although advancement of this programme would have been optimal, it is better that the investment in EVT 301 has been capped now rather than after a large investment in later stage trials. We continue to believe there is ample opportunity in our current proprietary portfolio of CNS candidates, including our insomnia drug EVT 201 and the potential of EVT 101 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, neuropathic pain or other indications. The discontinuation of the EVT 301 programme will free up EUR 20 million, which will provide us a lot of flexibility in developing our pipeline,” said Joern Aldag, President & Chief Executive Officer of Evotec.

“Alzheimer’s disease is a large unmet medical need and Evotec continues to believe in the potential of MAO-B inhibition and its role in treating CNS related disorders. We will assess the findings of EVT 301 in full detail. In other respects, our pipeline is progressing well. EVT 201 and EVT 101 continue to meet their clinical milestones and we look forward to apprising you of their developments later this year,” added John Kemp, Chief Research & Development Officer of Evotec.

EVT 301 is an orally active, selective and reversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) which was in development for Alzheimer’s disease.

About Evotec AG

Evotec is a leader in the discovery and development of novel small molecule drugs. Both through its own discovery programmes and through contract research partnerships, the Company is generating the highest quality research results to its partners in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

In proprietary projects, Evotec specialises in finding new treatments for diseases of the Central Nervous System. Evotec has two programmes in clinical development: EVT 201, a partial positive allosteric modulator (pPAM) of the GABAA receptor complex for the treatment of insomnia, and EVT 101, a subtype selective NMDA receptor antagonist for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and/or neuropathic pain.

In contract research, Evotec has established itself as the partner of choice for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. The Company provides innovative and often integrated solutions from drug target to clinic through an unmatched range of capabilities, including early stage assay development and screening through to medicinal chemistry and drug manufacturing.

In 2005, Evotec has generated sales of EUR 80 million with 600 employees located in Hamburg, Germany and near Oxford and in Glasgow, UK.

www.evotec.com

Contact:
Evotec AG
Anne Hennecke
Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Phone: +49-40-56081-286
Fax: +49-40-56081-333
E-Mail: anne.hennecke@evotec.com

Quantum Pharma, a drug discovery and computational chemistry software and contract services provider, Moscow, Russia, and TimTec, a provider of synthetic organic and natural compounds for bioscreening, Delaware, US, singed up a collaboration agreement. Quantum computational chemistry software with unique capabilities is available now through TimTec. In the future companies will co-develop products for drug-discovery utilizing Quantum Pharma computational capabilities and TimTec in-stock and virtual screening compound resources, and expertise in comprising compound library collections.

Maxim Kholin, Business Development Director at Quantum Pharmaceuticals comments on the collaboration: “We are glad to work with TimTec, the company that has strong expertise and recognized reputation on the market. Our technological breakthrough in software development has huge market potential. Now our main goal is to bring this new generation technology to the market. All our potential customers know very well the limitations of existing approaches and software. We know that once researchers evaluate Quantum software they will enjoy accuracy and benefits of our capable applications. I believe together with TimTec we will introduce better computational tools on the market of drug discovery and computational chemistry software and services.”

QUANTUM SOFTWARE MODULES

HIT IDENTIFICATION

1. IC50 protein-ligand complex Calculates the free binding energy and thus predicts the IC50 of a given protein-ligand complex.

2. Docking Finds the position of a small molecule in the active site of a given protein with the minimum value of the free binding energy and predicts the IC50 of the ligand.

3. Screening Screens in-silico a library of small-molecules. Finds their positions in the active site with the minimum value of the free binding energy and predicts the IC50 values of these molecules).

4. Scaffold Based Drug Design Designs a De Novo ligand - a potential drug candidate - which will interact specifically with a selected molecular target on the basis of scaffold library.

ADMET

Lead Selectivity Detects broad relative selectivity, potential adverse activity and additional unexpected activity for a library of compounds by screening them against several thousands of proteins.

PROTEOMICS

1. Protein Dynamics does geometry optimization, performs calculations to find stable (local energy minimum) configurations of a protein. Software analyses large-scale protein movements; provides normal mode analysis of proteins and builds their large-scale amplitude movements helping to evaluate the degree of protein flexibility in modeling their conformational changes.

Mutagenesis provides an interface for changing the protein sequence at specific sites through alterations to its amino acids. It is useful tool for activity prediction and the research of mutated proteins with other modules of Quantum.

Superimpose identifies the best fit for two molecules.

2. IC50 Protein-Protein Complex calculates free binding energy and predicts the IC50 of a given protein-protein complex.

COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY

1. Solubility and LogP Prediction calculates the solvation energy and solubility for a library of molecules in a number of solvents (water and DMSO); Predicts LogP.

2. pKa (protonation state) Prediction analyzes a molecule, finds protonation states, calculates pKa values for various protonation reactions and identifies the proper protonation state for a given pH.

Please contact TimTec to request product information:

Kay Denis, Business Development

TimTec
http://ww.timtec.net
Suite A, 301 Ruthar Dr
Newark DE 19711
Tel 302 292 8500 x 206
Fax 302 292 8520
info@timtec.net

About Quantum Pharmaceuticals

Quantum Pharmaceuticals is a drug discovery and computational chemistry software and contract services provider. The areas of technology application are virtual screening, hit/lead identification and optimization, ADMET prediction, computational chemistry and biology, bioinformatics. The Quantum software was developed using a new paradigm in molecular modeling - applying quantum and molecular physics instead of statistical scoring-function-like and QSAR-like methods. The proprietary technology includes the latest achievements in the fields of chemistry, physics and mathematics. It demonstrates outstanding speed and accuracy of affinity and other calculations due to fast quantum calculations, which take into account full flexibility of molecules, solvation effects, and entropy contribution.

About Timtec LLC

Timtec LLC is a privately held company located in Delaware, USA. It was founded in 1995 and began its work in the areas of acquisition and distribution of synthetic organic and natural compounds, custom synthesis, and laboratory equipment to become a full service partner for drug discovery. Timtec has established a global network of thousands of scientists from many research centers around the world. The company has developed strong in-house expertise assembling general, targeted, and custom library collections for variety of research applications. International customers include major pharmaceutical, biotech, agricultural, and educational companies and institutions, which use Timtec products for research and development programs.

CORNWALL, England and MALVERN, Pa., June 1 /PRNewswire/ — Key Organics Ltd (”Key”) and Reaction Biology Corporation (”RBC”) today announced that they have teamed up to provide a new library screening format to customers. Beginning this summer, the entire Key Bionet library of 37,500 diverse drug-like compounds will be offered for “rental” screening on RBC’s DiscoveryDot(TM) platform. For the first time, customers will be able to screen the Key library without having to purchase it outright.

“While we have many large pharma clients who wish to purchase compounds directly, we see an unmet need in smaller pharma and biotech companies that want to screen one or more of their targets without investing in a library purchase,” said Colin Piper, Business Development Manager for Key. “RBC’s platform gave us an economical way to reach these potential customers. Now researchers who do not have a budget for library purchases can still afford library screening.”

The Key library will be screened locally at RBC’s lab facilities in Malvern, PA. RBC will reformat the library to its microarray-based platform. “Our nanoliter-scale screening process means that we can we offer lower costs to customers, while our partnership with Key provides a clear path to additional chemistry expansion,” said Tom Festa, National Sales Manager for RBC.

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About Reaction Biology Corporation

Reaction Biology, based in Malvern, Pa., provides high throughput screening services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The company uses a patent-pending combination of technologies to perform screening at the nanoliter scale, while preserving quality, speed and simplicity. Combining genomics microarray printing technology and picoliter aerosol deposition, RBC has commercialized a novel technology that drives HTS to new levels of simplicity and efficiency. www.reactionbiology.com

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About Key Organics Ltd.

Key Organics Limited was formed in 1986 to supply schemes of novel, benzenoid and heterocyclic chemistry to its customers under confidentially agreements. During Key’s growth over the last 20 years, custom and contract synthesis and lead optimisation programmes for clients worldwide have become an increasingly important part of its business. The Company is based at its own well-equipped multi-lab site in Camelford, Cornwall, UK. Key Organics employs Graduate and Ph.D. chemists, including medicinal chemists, with experience in a wide range of chemical techniques and technologies. Key Organics is able to supply mg to kg quantities of compounds to a high specification. www.keyorganics.ltd.uk