Eurofins expands its offering and footprint in drug discovery services with the acquisition of DiscoverX

Eurofins Scientific (EUFI.PA), a world leader in providing analytical support to the global pharmaceutical industry, announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire DiscoverX, a leader in drug discovery products and services across all stages of discovery from target identification and lead discovery to preclinical and beyond. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks, upon fulfillment of customary closing conditions.

DiscoverX is an innovative company that develops, manufactures, and commercializes reagents, complete cell-based assay kits, profiling and screening services as well as other disruptive solutions for the drug discovery, screening, and life science markets. The company has over 15 years’ experience in drug discovery and development leveraging on the Enzyme Fragment Complementation (EFC) technology and has become a reputable market leader in GPCR screening applications. EFC technology is a proven, established screening platform in most major pharmaceutical companies. With over 900 stable cell lines, 4500 drug discovery assays and kits, and both custom and off-the shelf services, DiscoverX is one of the most trusted and utilized drug discovery portfolios in the world. The company employs 137 staff in four locations in Fremont, San Diego, San Francisco (California) and Birmingham (England).

The combination of Eurofins Pharma Discovery Services and DiscoverX provides the pharmaceutical and biotech industries with a partner of choice for end-to-end drug discovery services, enabling customers to improve research productivity and effectiveness of their screening, lead optimization and structure-activity relationships (SAR) campaigns, thus accelerating the discovery and development of new drugs. In addition, DiscoverX’s KINOMEscan platform and epigenetics services, combined with Eurofins Pharma Discovery’s kinase profiling services would result in the largest available portfolio of kinase products and services in the market. Furthermore, it provides researchers with a comprehensive technology platform for assessment of drugs to kinases, the most widely evaluated drug target.

DiscoverX’s expertise complements Eurofins discovery pharmacology capabilities following the previous acquisitions of Panlabs, Cerep, EMD Millipore Discovery and Development Solutions and Villapharma. The company is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing R&D outsourcing market in the USA and provides a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region.

Comment from Dr. Todd R Nelson, DiscoverX’s CEO: Joining Eurofins creates significant value for our clients and employees. We are excited to combine our respective portfolios and strengthen our position in the expanding global R&D outsourcing market. We look forward to working closely with the Eurofins team to ensure a smooth transition and integration.”

Comment from Dr. Gilles Martin, Eurofins’ CEO: “DiscoverX adds another spectrum of new advanced services that Eurofins can now offer to its clients. This transaction is another demonstration of Eurofins’ commitment to provide the most comprehensive portfolio of laboratory services in the discovery pharmacology field which enjoys a strong outsourcing growth trend.”

For more information, please visit www.eurofins.com or contact:

Notes for the editor:

Eurofins – a global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins Scientific through its subsidiaries (hereinafter sometimes “Eurofins” or “the Group”) believes it is the world leader in food, environment and pharmaceutical products testing and that it is also one of the global independent market leaders in certain testing and laboratory services for agroscience, genomics, discovery pharmacology and for supporting clinical studies. In addition, Eurofins is one of the key emerging players in specialty clinical diagnostic testing in Europe and the USA. With over 30,000 staff in 375 laboratories across 41 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 130,000 analytical methods for evaluating the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin and purity of biological substances and products, as well as for innovative clinical diagnostic. The Group objective is to provide its customers with high-quality services, accurate results on time and expert advice by its highly qualified staff.

Eurofins is committed to pursuing its dynamic growth strategy by expanding both its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions and the most comprehensive range of testing methods.

As one of the most innovative and quality oriented international players in its industry, Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients’ increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the expanding demands of regulatory authorities around the world.

The shares of Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0000038259, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP). 

Important disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements and estimates contained herein represent the judgement of Eurofins Scientific’ management as of the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees for future performance, and the forward-looking events discussed in this release may not occur. Eurofins Scientific disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements and estimates. All statements and estimates are made based on the information available to the Company’s management as of the date of publication, but no guarantee can be made as to their validity.