Nottingham lifesciences firm snaps up fellow BioCity tenant

Dr Richard Weaver, founder and CEO of Xenogesis with Dr Simon Hirst, founder and CEO of Sygnature Discovery

Sygnature Discovery, the Nottingham-based discovery and pre-clinical solutions provider, has bought fellow city firm XenoGesis, the UK’s largest independent laboratory-based clinical research organisation.

This latest acquisition by Sygnature – which has in recent years broadened its integrated drug discovery offering through the addition of in vivo pharmacology CROs RenaSci and Alderley Oncology – will meet both an increasing demand for its services and boost the company’s reach into the pre-clinical space

This acquisition effectively doubles the size of Sygnature’s DMPK department , which was established in 2015.

Dr Simon Hirst, CEO and founder at Sygnature Discovery, said: “Our ultimate mission at Sygnature is to help create life-changing drugs for patients that have made it through the drug discovery and development process, and we recognise the central role that DMPK plays in that journey.

“Sygnature is not growing for the sake of growing. We believe that truly integrated drug discovery is the best possible way forward in bringing novel efficacious drug candidates to man; that having teams working together across every discipline involved in a research project, sharing ideas and resolving challenges, will produce the sparks of innovation and high-quality science needed to enable success.

“We have always had tremendous respect for the work that XenoGesis does, and have a strong history of collaboration with them over the years. We are thrilled at this opportunity to build on the capabilities of both companies and enrich our service-offering going forward together.”

The companies are both located at BioCity in Nottingham.

Dr Richard Weaver, CEO and founder at XenoGesis added: “Sygnature and XenoGesis have always had a superb working relationship and been closely aligned in our culture and aspirations. From the start, both companies have focused on world-class science, insightful data interpretation, and creating genuine partnerships with our customers.

“Therefore, this step feels like a very natural one, and we are very excited about what we can accomplish together in helping accelerate our customers’ projects towards the clinic. My team and I are looking forward to joining forces with Sygnature.”

Provantage Corporate Finance advised the shareholders of XenoGesis.

Legal advice to the shareholders was provided by Geldards, led by partner Jenny Chatten and supported by Sarah Bailey with accounting support provided by Matt Green (Fosse Management) and tax advice provided by Cooper Parry.

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