University of Nottingham and BioFocus sign compound management agreement

BioFocus announced today that its Compound Focus Inc subsidiary has signed a compound management services agreement with the University of Nottingham, UK. Under the terms of this agreement, Compound Focus will select, source, acquire, perform quality control checks and reformat a compound collection before returning to the Managed Chemical Compound Collection (MCCC) at the University of Nottingham. These services will be provided by Compound Focus’ compound management facility in South San Francisco, USA.

BioFocus leads compound library market with innovative business model

BioFocus announced today that it has established an innovative and unique model for the sale of its SoftFocus compound libraries. G

Going forward, BioFocus will provide a limited number of clients with SoftFocus libraries on a subscription basis only. These libraries are designed to target protein families of particular interest to the subscribers. This shared exclusivity model will allow clients access to high value, novel compounds with limited competition on derived intellectual property.

Lundbeck Research USA Inc and BioFocus sign compound management agreement

BioFocus announced today that its Compound Focus Inc subsidiary has signed a three-year compound management services agreement with Lundbeck Research USA Inc.

Under the terms of this agreement, Compound Focus will manage Lundbeck’s liquid chemical library collection, distributing screening sets to high throughput screening centers in both the USA and Europe. These services will be provided by Compound Focus’ compound management facility in South San Francisco, USA.

Scott Snyder, Compound Focus’ General Manager, said: “Compound Focus continues to attract commercial, government and charitable organizations that see our state of the art automation and compound management experience as a complement to their discovery operations.”

BioFocus

Target discovery agreement in the field of autoimmune disease

Ono Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (Osaka, Japan) and BioFocus (Saffron Walden, UK) announced today that they have signed a collaboration agreement, focused on discovering novel targets in the field of autoimmune disease.

Under the agreement, BioFocus will receive research funding and success payments based on the progress of the collaboration. BioFocus will utilize its unique SilenceSelect target discovery platform to deliver validated targets for Ono’s immunology programs. Ono aims to find modulators for these targets and generate novel and innovative drug candidates.

BioFocus extends collaboration with Amgen into 2012

BioFocus announced today that it has extended its contract with Amgen for 2011 and 2012, with an expansion to include target discovery and validation services. Under the terms of the extended agreement, BioFocus will receive €2.0 M ($2.6 M) in research fees for the first year. Additionally, BioFocus is eligible to receive payments of access fees and success-based milestones.

The collaboration, which was initiated in 2002 and extended in 2006 and again in 2008, involves the identification of new molecules against various drug targets. Starting in 2011, the collaboration will involve the addition of BioFocus’ target discovery platform to deliver novel targets to support Amgen’s therapeutic programs.

“We are pleased to have delivered well in our long-standing collaboration with Amgen, resulting in an extension for the third time,” said Dr. Chris Newton, Senior VP Galapagos Services. “With each extension, Amgen has expanded the range of services provided by BioFocus, with target discovery being included this time around. We are very proud to win this opportunity to deliver high quality, innovative modes of action to Amgen.”

BioFocus

BioFocus extends collaboration with Chiesi

BioFocus, the provider of integrated gene-to-clinical candidate drug discovery services, announced today that it has expanded a collaboration with Chiesi Farmaceutici, a privately held Italian pharmaceutical company. Total value for the collaboration with Chiesi has now reached €2.5 million.

BioFocus and the National Cancer Institute sign compound management agreement

BioFocus announced today that its Compound Focus subsidiary has signed an agreement with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Under the terms of the agreement, BioFocus will provide compound management services to NCI for a base period of three years for a total of up to $5 million (€3.7 M), with two one-year extension options.

BioFocus signs compound management agreement with eMolecules

BioFocus, a lprovider of integrated gene-to-clinical candidate drug discovery services and eMolecules Inc, the creators of the open-access chemical structure search engine, today announced that they have signed a compound management service agreement.

Under the agreement eMolecules has selected Compound Focus Inc, the BioFocus compound management operation located in South San Francisco, as its preferred partner for client compound order aggregation services.

New compound libraries launched

BioFocus, a provider of integrated gene-to-clinical candidate drug discovery services, today announced the launch of two new compound libraries, targeting Family C GPCR’s and protein-protein interactions.

Argenta expands collaboration with Genentech to include BioFocus

Argenta, a service division of Galapagos NV, announced today it has signed a contract extension with Galapagos NV, a member of the Roche Group. The extended agreement expands the portfolio of projects which are in collaboration with Genentech and allows Genentech to place projects directly into Galapagos’ other service division, BioFocus.

BioFocus and Usher III Initiative announce collaboration

 BioFocus and the Usher III Initiative Inc, a not-for-profit organization, announced today that they have embarked on a drug discovery project focused on Usher Syndrome Type III. Usher Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that causes the loss of hearing and vision. Under the agreement, BioFocus will perform an integrated programme encompassing medicinal chemistry and biological sciences.