Charles River gains access to AstraZeneca’s lead discovery infrastructure

05-Feb-2018 - Last updated on 05-Feb-2018 at 17:14 GMT

(Image: AstraZeneca)

Charles River has been granted commercial access to AstraZeneca’s high-throughput screening (HTS) and compound management infrastructure, an investment that will help the company "deliver optimal benefit" to its customers, says executive.

As part of the agreement, Charles River scientists-in-residence will perform HTS programs for clients at AstraZeneca’s Centre for Lead Discovery in Cambridge, UK.

AstraZeneca moved its global headquarters to Cambridge in May 2016, since which time it has established more than 130 collaborations with academic, healthcare, and research partners.

With access to the AstraZeneca's new facility, Charles River will be able to run HTS for clients with a range of assay technologies, liquid handling platforms, and automated storage systems.

“This collaboration gives us the opportunity to offer our clients access to a facility with highly flexible, high-resolution, automated screening platforms,” Ian Waddell, PhD, executive director, Biology at Charles River, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

Additionally, the company recently enhanced its screening collection with the addition of 40,000 new compounds, expanding the library to more than 900,000 compounds, he explained.

“Together, these two investments will help us deliver optimal benefit to our customers,” Waddell said.

Charles River also recently acquired the UK-based contract research organization (CRO) KWS BioTest. The deal is said to expand the company's immunology contract research services and geographical footprint.