Sygnature Discovery expands DMPK capabilities with acquisition of XenoGesis

24 September 2020 – Nottingham, UK – Sygnature Discovery, a world-leading integrated discovery and pre-clinical solutions provider, has significantly expanded its DMPK capabilities and expertise with the acquisition of XenoGesis, the UK’s largest independent laboratory-based CRO specialising in pre-clinical DMPK, quantitative bioanalysis, in vitro pharmacology and expert interpretation.

This latest acquisition by Sygnature – which has in recent years broadened its integrated drug discovery offering through the addition of in vivo pharmacology CROs RenaSci and Alderley Oncology – serves to meet both an increasing demand for its services and boost the company’s reach into the pre-clinical space.

XenoGesis’ novel consultative approach has achieved a strong track record of success since its inception in 2011 through its focus on high quality science and a forward-thinking methodology that always has clinical considerations in mind from the outset of a drug discovery project, resulting in the early prediction of PK and likely human dosage and enabling more successful candidate molecules.

This acquisition effectively doubles the size of Sygnature’s DMPK department (established in 2015), broadening Sygnature’s discovery and development expertise, complementing its existing service-offering and adding new skills and capabilities.

Dr Simon Hirst, CEO and Founder at Sygnature Discovery, commented: “Our ultimate mission at Sygnature is to help create life-changing drugs for patients that have made it through the drug discovery and development process, and we recognise the central role that DMPK plays in that journey.

“Sygnature is not growing for the sake of growing. We believe that truly integrated drug discovery is the best possible way forward in bringing novel efficacious drug candidates to man; that having teams working together across every discipline involved in a research project, sharing ideas and resolving challenges, will produce the sparks of innovation and high-quality science needed to enable success.

“We have always had tremendous respect for the work that XenoGesis does, and have a strong history of collaboration with them over the years. We are thrilled at this opportunity to build on the capabilities of both companies and enrich our service-offering going forward together.”

The companies are both located at BioCity in Nottingham, UK, fitting well with Sygnature’s driving ethos of having co-located, multi-disciplinary teams of expert research scientists, working efficiently together, facilitating seamless drug discovery and creating innovative solutions for its partners

Dr Richard Weaver, CEO and Founder at XenoGesis added: “Sygnature and XenoGesis have always had a superb working relationship and been closely aligned in our culture and aspirations. From the start, both companies have focused on world-class science, insightful data interpretation, and creating genuine partnerships with our customers.

“Therefore, this step feels like a very natural one, and we are very excited about what we can accomplish together in helping accelerate our customers’ projects towards the clinic. My team and I are looking forward to joining forces with Sygnature.”

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Notes to Editors:

About Sygnature Discovery

Sygnature Discovery is a leading independent integrated drug discovery and pre-clinical services company. Private equity-backed since 2017, the company operates fully enabled research facilities in Nottingham and Alderley Park, UK, housing more than 300 research scientists (over 80% of whom hold a PhD) and has an office presence in Cambridge, MA, US.  Their experienced drug-hunters possess all the professional skills and know-how required to undertake the most demanding of research programmes, and drive them from target validation through hit identification, hit-to-lead and lead optimisation to pre-clinical development candidate. Sygnature’s pharmacology arm was formed by the incorporation of RenaSci, acquired in 2018, into Sygnature’s fully-integrated drug discovery platform. Since 2011, 33 compounds discovered by Sygnature for clients have entered pre-clinical development and, so far, 16 of these have progressed to clinical trials (Phases I, II and III). In 2017, Sygnature Discovery received the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade. 

For further information, visit: www.sygnaturediscovery.com

About XenoGesis

XenoGesis Ltd. specialises in preclinical drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK), quantitative bioanalysis, in vitro pharmacology and modelling and simulation for human PK and dose prediction. The core XenoGesis team has a proven track record of delivery in drug discovery. Through a consultative approach, the XenoGesis team helps to identify the potential ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in a selection of compounds synthesised in drug discovery campaigns, providing significant time and cost savings for R&D companies. Moreover, providing iterative feedback to the research team based on the results and recommending next steps is a key focus for XenoGesis. The organisation combines its state-of-the-art in vitro, in vivo and bioanalytical capabilities with its expert pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) data interpretation services with GastroPlus™. Their laboratory tests build a full picture of the ADME properties of a molecule including required human drug exposure, backed-up with advice on how to modify the chemical structure of a compound to make it more ‘drug-like’. This unique offering is what makes the XenoGesis service attractive to global drug companies.

XenoGesis is a laboratory-based contract research organisation (CRO) based at BioCity in Nottingham and its Founder and CEO is Dr Richard Weaver FRSC. In 2020, XenoGesis was awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of its export growth.