As part of the agreement, AMRI gains access to HarkerBIO's high-resolution, structure-determination expertise and capabilities, while HarkerBIO's customers will be able to access and benefit from AMRI's global capabilities.
The collaboration comes as AMRI is building a new drug discovery site in Buffalo, NY, after closing a discovery and development plant last year in Syracuse, NY.
"Our new center in Buffalo offers customers leading-edge platforms and capabilities to translate early discoveries to the clinic via an integrated approach leveraging our expertise in chemistry, biology and pharmacology all located in a single site in the US," said Michael Luther, SVP, Discovery and Development, AMRI.
Luther explained to Outsourcing-Pharma.com that HarkerBIO expertise will be focused on determining “the near atomic-resolution, three-dimensional structures of drug target and drug target-therapeutic agent complexes, to accelerate the drug design process. HarkerBIO's technology directly images a drug's mechanism of action, which is critical to optimize a drug candidate and to capture a strong IP position.”
The alliance with HarkerBIO is also aimed at accelerating decision making and success in the translation from discovery to the clinic.
"We have a responsibility to our partners and customers to help drive the translation of innovation to the clinic to bridge the current gaps in discovery and development," Luther said, "Our strategy is to leverage and build creative and effective collaborations with on-campus and off-campus partners from global Pharma to academia including technology partners within this unique public-private environment."