Oncodesign Services and Nexus BioQuest partner on preclinical drug development
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Oncodesign Services and Nexus BioQuest have partnered to offer biotech companies comprehensive, integrated preclinical drug development CRO services.
Oncodesign Services and Nexus BioQuest have formed a partnership combining human-relevant in vitro immunology with in vivo pharmacology to support biotech companies progressing preclinical drug development programmes. The collaboration, the pair said, is intended to provide smaller biotech teams with access to specialist CRO expertise as their scientific requirements change throughout drug discovery.
French CRO Oncodesign Services brings more than three decades of experience in in vivo pharmacology, with capabilities spanning oncology, inflammation, autoimmunity and radiopharmaceutical research. Its preclinical offering includes syngeneic, patient-derived xenograft (PDX), cell-derived xenograft (CDX) and humanised immune system models, alongside inflammatory disease models and preclinical imaging.
UK-based Nexus BioQuest specialises in translational immunology and human primary cell-based assays. Its services include bespoke assay development and 2D and 3D models for immuno-oncology, inflammation and autoimmune disease research.
Under the new partnership, biotechs can involve either organisation depending on the scientific question being addressed, while also having the option to bring both teams into discussions around preclinical study design. The companies said this could be particularly relevant for smaller organisations with limited internal scientific resources, where access to specialist expertise may need to change as a programme moves from early discovery towards more advanced preclinical studies.
Endometriosis has been identified as a proof-of-concept area for the collaboration.
Nexus BioQuest’s primary cell inflammatory models can be used alongside Oncodesign Services’ in vivo endometriosis models to investigate endpoints including lesion development, fibrosis and inflammatory responses. Aidan Synnott, CEO of Oncodesign Services, said the partnership was intended to help biotech companies identify appropriate specialist expertise without having to search for new providers as their programmes evolve. “For biotech teams, the challenge is often not finding another CRO, but finding the right expertise for the scientific question they need to answer next."
