Prestwick and Pharma Plexus form lead optimisation services partnership

14-Dec-2011 - Last updated on 15-Dec-2011 at 16:12 GMT

Prestwick Chemical and Pharma Plexus Holland have set up a lead optimisation services collaboration intended to meet industry demand for larger candidate selection projects.

The companies – which are based in France and Holland, respectively – formed the alliance to manage a contract for an unnamed ‘major pharmaceutical’ client, however, they also intend to seek additional projects.

Prestwick CEO Thierry Langer said the new collaboration was motivated by increasing pharma industry demand for complex optimisation services that require a wide range of skills and technical capabilities.

“Prestwick Chemical was looking at solutions to expand its capacity and ability to handle larger projects in the face of growing demand,” said Professor Langer, adding that “the collaboration with Pharma Plexus Holland in Weesp near Amsterdam is a great opportunity to do just this.”

This was echoed by Plexus’ co-founder Chris Kruse, who said that the accord played a pivotal role in winning the ‘major pharma’ contract.

Professor Kruse, former global head of medicinal chemistry at Solvay, added that: “Together with Prestwick, we are committed to building up our team thus increasing employment in the Amsterdam region in an innovative industry that attracts significant attention from local authorities.”

Neither firm responded to requests for more information ahead of publication.

Partnership plan

Prestwick Chemicals’, which was formed in 1999 by a group of researchers at the University of Strasbourg, provides medicinal chemistry, library and screening services. Pharma Plexus Holland’s offering focuses on lead candidate optimisation and development services.

Collaboration is a key part of Prestwick’s strategy. In 2009 the firm partnered with Caliper Life Sciences in a deal that grated the Massachusetts, US-based contract research organisation’s (CRO) clients access to its medicinal chemistry capabilities.

The partnership also stemmed earlier projects wins according to Prestwick president Camille Wermuth, who said at the time that: “the joint projects that have been extremely successful for our clients, I am very happy that we are able to confirm our involvement with Caliper and extend this offer to better serve drug discovery companies.”