Peakdale invests in parallel synthesis
UK contract research company Peakdale Molecular, based in Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire, has invested £500,000 (€805k) in a new parallel synthesis laboratory. Capable of both solid and solution phase syntheses, the new facility will be used to generate focused libraries of screening compounds for drug discovery, based either on customers' templates or on Peakdale's own range of novel building blocks. It will also be used to investigate process parameters in pursuit of route optimisation, the company says.
Fifty reactions can be carried out simultaneously on a single machine at a constant temperature ranging from 20-200°c. There are also five carousels capable of carrying out 12 reactions each, giving the lab a total capacity of 110 simultaneous reactions. The total annual production capacity of the facility is 6,000 compounds or approximately 40 libraries.
Peakdale Molecular moved into its new purpose-built 40,000 sq ft headquarters in the third quarter of last year. Built at a cost of £3m (€5m), the facility currently has five laboratories and employs 30 chemists. However, there is the capacity for 17 laboratories and 102 scientists.
'The new facility marks a significant step towards becoming a world-leading supplier of integrated chemistry and novel compounds for the life science industries,' said Kimberley Morrison, the recently appointed ceo.