ChemDiv's hit development collaboration with Nerviano Medical Systems has been expanded to include the optimisation of hits identified in Nerviano's high throughput screening campaign.
The agreement, of which financial details were not disclosed, follows on from a successful collaboration that was started in 2004 and will see ChemDiv receive fees for services carried out as well as milestone payments for the successful performance of the programme.
The hits will be optimised in terms of their potency, selectivity, in vitro ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion) profile with the subsequent progression into a lead optimisation programme.
"We have decided to extend our collaboration with ChemDiv because of their professionalism and top quality capabilities in chemistry. This new agreement is a significant step forward in the exploitation of our project pipeline," said Giampiero Duglio, CEO of Nerviano.
"We believe ChemDiv contribution will represent a major upside in our commitment to push into the clinic high quality chemical candidates intended to inhibit key cancer molecular targets."
SRI International has been awarded a $15.5m contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to provide preclinical services for the development of drugs and therapeutic vaccines to treat HIV and associated infections.
The not-for-profit company will provide preclinical services to support the development of new therapies including toxicology, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and toxicogenomics to support submission of new drug applications to the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
The deal builds upon a pre-exisitng contract between the two companies that has seen SRI provide preclinical services to NIAID for the last 16 years.
US-based Lead Therapeutics has entered into a research collaboration with Shanghai ChemPartner to accelerate its efforts in developing pre-investigational new drug candidates.
Shanghai ChemPartner is a subsidiary of the Chinese pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D outsourcing company ShangPharma.
Lead Therapeutics has previously stated it plans to carry out the majority of its research in China.
The Economic Times has reported that Ranbaxy Laboratories may sell as much as 60 per cent of its research and development business unit as it looks to spin off a contract research organisation.
Microdosing expert Xceleron has been named as the York Press Business of the Year 2007 due to it being the 'destination of choice for pharmaceutical companies keen to save millions of pounds by reducing the length of their clinical trials'.
This is the third business award the company has won in the last month, having also come first in the 'Science and Technology' category and receiving the 'Best University Spin-Out' award from the Yorkshire Post.
"We feel very honoured to receive these awards which reflect our pioneering approaches to assist in the development of new life-saving medicines. Until two years ago, Xceleron was twelve people and now it is a global company with aspirations to become a world force," said Mark Seymour, Xceleron's chief study director.
