Medicines Discovery Catapult & Alderely Park team up to drive UK drug discovery

UK SMEs will be able to access collaborative research programmes thanks to a new partnership between Medicines Discovery Catapult and Alderley Park.

By integrating Alderley Park’s imaging services and expertise into its pre-clinical imaging capability, Medicines Discovery Catapult will be able to offer a range of pre-clinical imaging and bioanalysis technologies to help drive drug discovery in the UK.

The new imaging capabilities integrated into Medicines Discovery Catapult from Alderley Park includes the Siemens Inveon Positron Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography Scanners, PE Wallac Wizard gamma Counter, and VisualSonics Fujifilm High Frequency ultrasound imaging system.

These services will now be combined with Medicines Discovery Catapult’s wider suite of technologies for pre-clinical drug discovery.

Chris Molloy, chief executive officer of Medicines Discovery Catapult, said: “We work at the forefront of drug discovery technology innovation, so that UK SMEs can access scarce, state-of-the-art technologies and expertise that enable their projects. The incorporation of Alderley Park’s imaging capabilities enhances our portfolio, with the ability to prove that these techniques are on the critical path for the future of medicines R&D.”

Monitoring, assessing and characterising novel therapeutics is an essential part of drug development. Pre-clinical imaging allows non-invasive assessment of biochemical and biological processes, enhancing researchers’ understanding of a drug’s safety, efficacy and mode of action.

A combination of pre-clinical imaging capabilities and expertise, alongside other technologies provides more informative data sets for better decision-making during projects.

Dr Chris Doherty, managing director, of Alderley Park added:“By transferring Alderley Park’s imaging services to the Medicines Discovery Catapult we are able to help progress the creation of what will be a nationally significant imaging centre, which will benefit the Park as a whole. The imaging service we had compliments the imaging service the Catapult already provides and there’s more value to be had by putting the two services together.”