SANTA CLARA, CA (12TH FEBRUARY 2015) – CROWN BIOSCIENCE, INC., A LEADING GLOBAL DRUG DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICE COMPANY HAS ANNOUNCED THE ACQUISITION OF MOLECULAR RESPONSE’S PDX MODELS AND PDX SERVICE OPERATIONS. THE ACQUISITION REINFORCES CROWN’S ON-GOING STRATEGY TO BE THE LEADING GLOBAL PROVIDER OF TRANSLATIONAL ONCOLOGY SERVICES WITH FACILITIES IN ASIA, THE USA AND EUROPE.
Crown is acquiring all of Molecular Response’s existing PDX models as well as 8,000 viable human tumors for model development from Molecular Response’s viable tumor bank of over 140,000 unique cryopreserved 100% U.S. tumor samples, with the ability to further select and develop models from the wider collection. The majority of these tissues come from patients who have received prior treatment, many from metastatic tumors. Each tumor is supported by a companion molecular biobank and a suite of curated patient and sample data; the collection representing over 76 clinical diagnoses.
With the Molecular Response PDX library acquisition and further commitment to develop thousands of additional unique PDX models from the viable tumor bank, the Crown collection will be the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of patient derived models both clinically and ethnically diverse, deriving tumor models from Asia, the USA, and Europe. These models include multiple stages of cancer development, across a wide range of cancer types and are representative of both patients that are treatment naïve as well as those who have received prior treatment. This truly unique asset provides a 360 degree view of patient relevant disease to support the oncology drug discovery process.
The Molecular Response facilities and personnel in San Diego will be designated as a global center of excellence for Translational Oncology, and will complement Crown’s existing operations in Beijing, Shanghai, Kannapolis, North Carolina and the UK, providing local expertise and support to Crown’s global clients.
“This acquisition represents the next step in Crown’s strategy to be the dominant provider of translational oncology drug discovery services”, comments Jean-Pierre Wery, President of Crown Bioscience. “Crown’s unique, clinically relevant models reflect the patient situation for each aspect of cancer progression, encompassing pre-cancerous lesions, primary tumours and metastasis, as well as being ethnically diverse and representing both treated and drug naïve patients. Our clients are now in a position to access a unique resource of relevant models containing clinically proven molecular markers present in global populations. Our ability to run hundreds of models in parallel enables our clients to complete avatar trials in months rather than years to determine the genetic signature of responders versus non-responders. Our clients can then make better informed decisions regarding the selection of patients and the design of clinical trials to ultimately reduce the attrition of compounds in the clinic.”
Cyrus Mirsaidi, Chief Executive Officer of Molecular Response said “We are extremely pleased with the acquisition of our PDX services by Crown Bioscience. We see both companies’ assets as highly complementary and Crown’s leadership in providing high quality Oncology Drug Discovery services will be significantly enhanced with the addition of Molecular Response’s assets. Our combined resources will serve to strengthen our joint ability to address translational challenges and the assessment of compound efficacy earlier in the life cycle of our clients’ programs. Access to Molecular Response’s unparalleled U.S. human tissue bank will provide Crown with thousands of clinically relevant models for Oncology Drug Discovery further enhancing its unparalleled suite of services for its clients, while the San Diego in vivo team continues to provide exceptional in vivo pharmacology services and mouse clinical trial strategies to existing and future clients.”
This acquisition follows several recent announcements by Crown Bioscience Inc., including the opening of a new facility in Kannapolis in October 2014, the expansion of the Crown Bioscience UK facility and the appointment of a new Senior Vice President Global Strategy. The evolution of Crown’s Translational Platforms is another part of its global strategy to increase the company’s visibility as a global provider of preclinical CRO services, adding assets, local expertise and support.
*ENDS*
For further press information please contact: Celine Goodier – The Scott Partnership, 1 Whiteside, Station Road, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, CW4 8AA, United Kingdom. Tel: + 44 1477 539 539 Fax: +44 1477 539 540 E-mail:crown@scottpr.com
About Crown Bioscience Inc.
Founded in 2006, Crown Bioscience is a premier drug discovery and development service company providing cutting-edge translational platforms and cost effective drug discovery solutions for its biotech and pharmaceutical partners in dedicated therapeutic areas: Oncology and Metabolic Disease. Our proprietary HuPrime®, HuKemia®, HuBase™, HuMark™, HuTrial™ and HuSignature™ platforms enable unique lead optimization and translational strategies to deliver superior clinical candidates. Headquartered in Santa Clara California, Crown Bioscience has operations in China (Beijing and Jiangsu Taicang), United Kingdom (Crown Bioscience UK Ltd. in Nottingham) and the USA (NC) with business offices in Boston, Princeton, RTP, Phoenix, Milan and Shanghai. For more information, please visit http://www.crownbio.com.
About Molecular Response
Molecular Response is dedicated to the advance of high value therapeutics through intelligently designed, biomarker driven strategies. Our goal is to reduce risk and cost of targeted therapeutics through key risk-shared partnerships by use of fully characterized efficacy models and clinically relevant molecular response marker data to create a clinically predictive knowledge base while fully integrated into existing pharmaceutical development processes and programs; our results allow for the most informed decisions with best chance of success to advance therapeutic programs. For additional information please visit www.molecularresponse.com.
Contact Information (Molecular Response)
Praveen Nair, Ph.D.
858.622.2900