London, UK and Cambridge, UK, 29th October 2015 / Domainex Ltd. announced today that it is expanding all aspects of its drug discovery service business including biology, analytical chemistry and medicinal chemistry. In order to provide the infrastructure required to support this expansion Domainex has signed a long-term lease with Aviva Investors for a laboratory building at Chesterford Research Park, Cambridge. Domainex and Aviva Investors are planning to invest several million pounds in the new research building.
Eddy Littler, Chief Executive Officer of Domainex said, “We are delighted with the growth our service business has achieved over the last few years, and this year we anticipate further expansion across the range of our biology and chemistry service offerings. We are in the middle of a significant recruitment round in which we have brought a number of excellent scientists into the company”.
He went on to say “The next step in our growth is the move to our new site at Chesterford Research Park in Summer 2016: this will provide Domainex with world-class laboratories and infrastructure in which the company and its employees will grow and develop. Domainex will be moving to a 20,000 sq ft laboratory with an immediate increase in capacity of 140%. I am personally very happy with Domainex’s move to Chesterford Research Park and look forward to establishing our relationship with Aviva, and with the other biotech companies on the site”.
Keith Powell, Chairman of Domainex, said “As evidenced by our recent announcements regarding our contracts with Imperial College and Auspherix, we are continuing to develop Domainex as a high-quality research company capable of first-in-class protein expression, biochemistry, cell biology and computational and medicinal chemistry. Putting this growth alongside our successful in-house programmes on epigenetic targets, the need for expansion space is evident; we are delighted to have found this solution at Chesterford Research Park.”
Martin Sylvester, Marketing Director with The Churchmanor Estates Company plc, joint developers of the Park with Aviva Investors, commented: “Domainex is clearly the kind of dynamic company that we are delighted to have at Chesterford Research Park and we look forward to establishing a strong, long term relationship, helping the company continue to grow and develop. Chesterford’s excellent range of first class scientific facilities alongside well-executed central amenities, ideal for both interaction and relaxation, continues to attract established companies, such as Domainex, as well as the newer, up and coming players, the result of which is a thriving community that has world-class research at its heart.”
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Editors Notes
About Domainex
Domainex Ltd. is a Cambridge-based small-molecule drug discovery company that provides integrated drug discovery services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic partners globally. Services cover a wide span of the drug discovery value chain, from disease target validation to pre-clinical candidate nomination. Domainex's services include recombinant protein expression and use of its proprietary technology platform, Combinatorial Domain Hunting to identify soluble protein fragments for structural biology and assay development. Hit finding activities encompass assay development and screening utilising its Bioassay Builder and LeadBuilder portfolios. The core of the service platform is undertaking multi-parameter medicinal chemistry optimisation of hits and leads under the mantra ‘every compound counts’, which can save up to 30% of average industry time.
Additionally, Domainex is investing in developing its own therapeutic compounds for out-licensing in two specific areas: 1) Inhibitors of the kinases TBK1 & IKK epsilon to treat inflammatory conditions such as COPD and psoriasis; 2) The emerging epigenetic target class of lysine methyltransferases potentially implicated in oncology, where to date Domainex has built a portfolio of drug discovery assets encompassing novel chemical matter, proprietary assays and X-ray crystal structures.
For more information please visit www.domainex.co.uk
About Chesterford Research Park
Chesterford Research Park has proven an ideal environment for life science companies to grow and prosper. Leading bioscience names that have located at Chesterford include Illumina Inc., DRW and Isogenica. The Park is also home to a number of life science and start-up companies. The attractive 250-acre, low-density development is located close to Cambridge and the M11 with London just one hour away by train from nearby Audley End station, ensuring occupiers and visitors enjoy convenient and easy access. Stansted Airport is just 20 minutes drive away. Chesterford Research Park is being developed by The Churchmanor Estates Company Plc and is owned by Aviva Investors.
To find out more, visit www.chesterfordresearchpark.com.
For more information please contact:
Domainex
Tom Mander
Chief Operating Officer
tom.mander@domainex.co.uk
Tel +44 (0)7584 578024
For media relations please contact:
Sciad for Domainex
Sylvie Berrebi
sylvie@sciad.com
M: +44 (0)7795 197271
Deborah Cockerill
deborah@sciad.com
M: +44 (0)7930 317729
Limewash for Chesterford Research Park
Sarah Brereton
sarah@limewashmedia.com
T: 01223 813 560
M: 07796 583 223