Strategic Move into Integrated Drug Discovery Pays Off

Since expanding last year into an integrated discovery services CRO, BioAscent Discovery reports a three-fold increase in revenues during 2018, with projections on-track for a further 2.5-fold increase in 2019. The significant results were said to have been driven by substantial contract wins for both the company’s established compound management services and its newer integrated drug discovery offering. In addition the company has recently secured a second, five-year contract as part of the European Lead Factory’s ESCulab Project, to provide the storage and management of more than 500,000 compounds, as well as biological hit characterisation.

CEO Paul Smith said: “After just one year as a full-service CRO, we are especially pleased to have won a significant number of competitive bids for integrated discovery projects – even securing business that previously had been outsourced to the Far East. This has resulted in an enviable customer base of biotechs, virtual biotechs, VC-funded academic spin-outs and academic groups. Our compound management service revenue also continues to grow at over 50% year-on-year, not including the ongoing income from ESCulab, and we’re seeing particular demand from virtual biotechs and those with extensive CRO networks. This success across both drug discovery and compound management services is based on a combination of factors that we believe is unique in the market: the quality of our scientific team, and our cost-effective, flexible, consultative and fully-integrated service.”

The company also attributed its success to company’s scientific staff as CSO, Dr Phil Jones, explained: “We’ve integrated highly experienced chemistry and biology teams who have significant track records of drug discovery success, and continue to build the team with high calibre and well-respected scientists to meet the growing demand for our services.”