Back in October 2010, PPD acquired a controlling interest in X-Chem, along with the right to purchase the remaining interest on or before October 31, 2014.
PPD says that its decision to acquire the remaining minority interest in X-Chem is based on “the successful business model that X-Chem has built and the growing interest by pharmaceutical firms to gain access to X-Chem’s proprietary small molecule discovery technology.”
“Four years ago, PPD made a strategic decision to invest in X-Chem, based on their highly innovative drug discovery engine,” David Simmons, chairman and CEO of PPD said.
“X-Chem has demonstrated the value of its technology through establishment of an increasing number of relationships with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, along with academic centers. Through these relationships, X-Chem has emerged as one of the top small molecule drug discovery companies in the biotechnology industry.”
X-Chem has established partnerships with Roche, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Pfizer, and two other unnamed major pharma companies since 2010, as well as several biotechnology companies and top tier academic institutions.
In its work with partners, the company uses a proprietary DNA-encoded small molecule library with more than 100bn distinct compounds to help generate novel drugs against dozens of validated targets.
CEO and founder of X-Chem Richard Wagner added: “We have enjoyed a highly productive and collaborative relationship with PPD to date and share a belief in the potential of X-Chem to transform drug discovery through broad application of our technology to a wide spectrum of targets and therapeutic areas. We look forward to additional success for our two companies and the patient communities we ultimately aspire to help.”