Pharmaron announces drug discovery partnership with AstraZeneca

Pharmaron will provide drug discovery services to pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

Pharmaron, an R&D service provider for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, has announced a new partnership with AstraZeneca that should help to accelerate the discovery of new drugs.

The multi-year agreement will see Pharmaron provide discovery services in the areas of chemistry, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, and efficacy screening at its new drug discovery service centre in Beijing.
Several hundred Pharmaron scientists will be allocated to the partnership at the company's new state-of-the-art research laboratories.

Manos Perros, head of infection iMed and sponsor of the collaboration for AstraZeneca, welcomed the partnership with Pharmaron.

He said: "Pharmaron scientists will be integrated into our project teams and play an important role in helping us fulfil our commitment to delivering meaningful medicines to patients worldwide."

Dr Boliang Lou, Pharmaron's chairman and chief executive officer, added that the partnership marked an "important milestone" for the company, which is in the process of strengthening its fully integrated services capacity.