Collaboration to Offer World Class Integrated Oncology Drug Discovery Services

Preclinical Oncology Services Ltd (PRECOS) has extended its alliance with Argenta to continue  providing comprehensive oncology-focussed drug discovery services. Argenta, a service division of Galapagos NV, provides fully
integrated drug discovery services to a range of leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide.
The five-year extension of the alliance will allow both companies to offer unrivalled expertise in cancer research to
their pharmaceutical clients.

As a world leader in the provision of pre-clinical research services for oncology drug discovery, PRECOS offers unique
advanced patient-relevant in vivo models, which closely reflect the clinical situation for each aspect of cancer progression, encompassing pre-cancerous lesions, primary tumours and metastasis. This ability to create cell lines from patient primary tissues that ‘never see plastic’ means that cell lines are not selected based on their ability to survive in vitro, but on their true characteristics as cancer cells.

Argenta can now incorporate PRECOS’ specialist in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo cancer models and exceptional scientific expertise into its integrated oncology drug discovery service offering, from hit identification through lead optimisation and in vivo “proof-of-concept” to clinical candidate selection. The breadth and depth of the two companies’ combined
capabilities and expertise in oncology research are unique to the industry.

“Argenta has an excellent reputation for providing first class contract drug discovery services to the global pharmaceutical industry; especially in oncology,” commented Professor Sue Watson, Chief Scientific Officer, PRECOS. “We are looking forward to working with Argenta across a number of ongoing cancer-focussed contract research programmes, in addition to various major projects currently in the pipeline. This agreement further demonstrates our business growth and commitment to providing innovative drug discovery services.”

Dr John Montana, Managing Director of Argenta, added: “PRECOS is a world leader in oncology preclinical research
services. Through this alliance our pharmaceutical clients are able to benefit from seamless access to PRECOS’ models and scientists. We are excited to have PRECOS as a key extension of our team, working in partnership with our experienced oncology drug discovery scientists.”