BioAscent’s service supports pharmaceutical companies during the discovery phase, to help identify potential drug candidates for preclinical trials and test the interaction of a drug against over 1 million chemical compounds, providing a detailed profile of the absorption, distribution, metabolism and toxicity of a drug. Establishing and maintaining a comprehensive collection of compounds in optimum conditions requires significant time and up-front investment, beyond the financial and technical resources of most small to medium sized clients, so compound management is rarely found outside large pharmaceutical companies.
With an increasing trend towards the outsourcing of drug discovery to contract research organisations, a key differentiator for BioAscent is its high-capacity, state-of-the-art R&D facility near Glasgow, acquired from industry giant Merck Sharp & Dohme in 2010, which can house client compound libraries each consisting of up to a few hundred thousand compounds and allows BioAscent to offer a cost-effective alternative to maintaining in-house facilities for larger Tier 1 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
The investment from Maven validating the successful development of the business over recent years. I am very pleased BioCity remains a major shareholder in the company and look forward to continuing to work with Maven and the management team to grow the business further.
Glenn Crocker, major shareholder for BioAscent
