GREENWICH, Conn., Feb. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aptuit LLC and Icagen, Inc. today announced a strategic alliance to give drug discovery customers access to ion channel and transporter technologies and expert services.
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Aptuit LLC, a premier global drug discovery and development CRO (Contract Research Organization), and Icagen, Inc., a CRO with scientific expertise and comprehensive access to technologies for ion channel and transporter assays, will offer comprehensive and integrated services from gene to high quality candidates and beyond in the ion channel and transporter area. This partnership is expected to allow the two companies to jointly offer best-in-class fully integrated drug discovery and development solutions for the specific target classes, supported by a shared culture of scientific excellence and innovation.
The strategic alliance will give Aptuit's customers access to Icagen's portfolio of assay tools and technologies for ion channel and transporter research, including their extensive collection of unique ion channel cell lines and their proprietary XRpro® X-ray fluorescence technology platform. Icagen's customers are expected to benefit from Aptuit's wide range of integrated drug discovery solutions, including medicinal chemistry, in vitro DMPK, discovery pharmacology, computational chemistry and best-in-class analytical discovery support.
"This alliance allows us to offer our customers access to Aptuit's integrated drug discovery and development capabilities," said Richie Cunningham, President and Chief Executive Officer of Icagen, Inc. "Icagen's ultimate goal is to reduce the time and cost of bringing ion channel and transporter drug candidates to market for our clients. Aptuit's world leading expertise in integrated drug discovery we believe will increase Icagen's ability to efficiently advance our clients' drug candidates through pre-clinical development."
Jonathan Goldman, M.D., Aptuit CEO, added, "Customers have noted our unique capabilities in the medicinal chemistry areas and integrated discovery. We are delighted that this alliance with Icagen, and their expertise in ion channel and transporter technologies, has the potential to put both companies in a position to help our customers increase their chances of successful IND filing."
Dr. Goldman continued, "Aptuit's integrated discovery solutions, coupled with broad non-clinical capabilities, are unique in the marketplace. We are focused on helping our customers discover, develop and produce drugs with very high quality, whilst minimizing operational risks."
About Aptuit LLC
Aptuit LLC provides the most complete set of integrated early discovery to mid-Phase drug development services in the pharmaceutical industry including Drug Design & Discovery, API Development and Manufacture, Solid State Chemistry, CMC, Preclinical and IND enabling GLP/GMP programs. Fully integrated drug discovery & development services are available from a single site at The Aptuit Center for Drug Discovery & Development center in Verona, Italy. The company maintains resources around the world, with facilities in the US, UK and Italy. Aptuit LLC is partnered with Welsh, Carson, and Anderson & Stowe, one of the world's leading private equity investors.
For more information on our company, please visit our website at http://www.aptuit.com.
About Icagen, Inc.
Icagen partners with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to offer industry-leading scientific expertise and comprehensive access to technologies for ion channel and transporter drug discovery and development. With over 20 years of leadership in the ion channel field, the Icagen team offers an extensive track record of success in advancing molecules from drug discovery to clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas and ion channel classes. Icagen's growing tool box comprises a broad range of cell lines and technologies for ion channel and transporter research, capped by the label-free XRpro® platform. XRpro® technology, based on X-ray fluorescence, is a novel method that enables high throughput assessment of ion channels and transporters, including challenging systems with high therapeutic interest. For more information on our company, please visit our website at http://www.icagen.com.
This release includes forward-looking statements on Aptuit's and Icagen's current expectations and projections about future events. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions. These statements are based upon current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and include statements regarding the partnership being expected to allow the two companies to jointly offer best-in-class fully integrated drug discovery and development solutions for the specific target classes, the expected benefit to Icagen's customers from Aptuit's wide range of integrated drug discovery solutions, the belief that Aptuit's world leading expertise in medicinal chemistry will increase Icagen's ability to efficiently advance our clients' drug candidates through pre-clinical development, and the potential of the alliance to put both companies in a position to help our customers increase their chances of successful IND filing. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and the companies undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. Although management believes that the plans and objectives reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual future results may be materially different from the plans, objectives and expectations expressed in this press release.