Three-year program aims to develop new compounds against Servier targets.

Cerep and Servier established a three-year drug discovery and lead optimization agreement. Servier will identify targets of interest and provide Cerep with compound libraries. Cerep will then develop and validate pharmacological assays, run high-throughput screens on the Servier compounds, and profile screening hits and optimized candidates. The results will be available to Servier through Cerep’s Data OnLine secure web portal.

The deal also gives Servier access to Cerep’s BioPrint® services for use in the selection of drug compounds. BioPrint is a large, homogenous pharmacology and ADME database that Cerep claims provides a unique resource for supporting decision making in drug discovery.

Cerep has worked with Servier in drug discovery in previous years. Commenting on the latest collaboration, Bernard Marchand, research director at Servier, says, “With its experience in the development of new pharmacological assays, its organization and expertise in compound management and screening, but also the access to its BioPrint database and tools, Cerep is a partner of choice for our new drug discovery research programs.”

The Servier agreement comes just days after Cerep announced a kinase profiling agreement with Lilly. Under this deal, the French company is providing access to its expanded kinase assay platform for drug target research. The arrangement with Lilly builds on a previous GPCR agreement between Cerep and Lilly.


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Related news from Servier

Vernalis and Servier Research Group Ink Discovery Deal (May 15, 2007)
GenomeQuest and Servier Develop Software that Integrates Biological Data Sets (May 1, 2007)
Plexxikon and Servier Sign Cardiovascular Collaboration (Oct. 2, 2006)

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