BioAscent, a provider of integrated drug discovery services, has reported a 50% increase in demand from biotech and ‘virtual’ biotech companies for its outsourced compound management services in 2021. This follows a significant between 2018 and 2020 – also primarily driven by biotech customers.
The company provides compound management to clients in the UK, US, Europe, and Australia, with US biotech customers becoming the biggest contributor to its growth. It securely manages libraries ranging from tens to hundreds-of-thousands of compounds, enabling clients to accelerate their design-make-test cycles.
Throughout the last two years the company has invested over £1m in its compound management infrastructure and grown its team by 40%, and currently 80% of its largest customers utilise the integrated discovery services, including compound management plus chemistry and/or biology.
“Key to our success is that we offer a secure infrastructure and rapid service that is significantly ahead of other CROs”, said Paul Smith, BioAscent’s CEO. “Uniquely, we offer a number of benefits that are especially critical to innovative biotechs working with a network of CROs. For example, there is no minimum library size or minimum fee. Inventories are always up-to-date and available for secure online ordering, and compounds can be stored securely in a range of formats, including vials, 96-well, 384-well and 1536-well plates, and plated in test-ready formats, including assay ready plates. And our speed of service is outstanding. We deliver to in-house labs or global CRO partners based in East Coast US and the EU in under 24 hrs, with fast access to Asian hubs.”
