Therapeutic areas of expertise

When you’re expediting drug discoveries from bench to clinic, you need expert partners who know your field.

From our academic origins in Therapeutic Immunology, we have extended our in-depth expertise in immunology, immuno-oncology and neuroscience research and development, helping our clients progress some of the most cutting-edge and effective therapies.

We provide a range of services to screen drug candidates and confirm the mechanism of action (MoA), including:

  • Multi-disciplinary teams of scientists with expertise in your therapeutic area.
  • Tailored assay design that interrogates your critical questions.
  • Comprehensive data packages along with the insightful interpretation that drives intelligent decision-making.

We consider even the smallest details so you can make the big decisions.

The challenge

As researchers break ground with new therapeutics for diseases which are difficult to treat, they stretch the possibilities of techniques, technology and knowledge.

To ensure safety and efficacy in an evolving landscape, and assure stakeholders that investments are channeled to the most promising candidates, data packages are becoming more complex.

For these novel therapies, off-the-shelf assays and automated data readouts don’t provide the insight needed.

Accurately defining the questions can be tough enough and even when the optimal assays are run, the data outputs require skilled interpretation so that meaningful decisions can be made.

The solution

Drug development teams across the world are relying on our expertise in key therapeutic areas to help drive drug discovery, fast-track development pipelines and provide the necessary data packages for regulatory approval.

We don’t just run a suite of standard assays. We help you:

  • Define the true aim of the analysis
  • Design tailored suites of assays that answer the key questions
  • Deliver detailed data to define key drug parameters
  • Interpret data to reveal the meaning behind each value
  • Help inform constructive decision-making for the drug development pathway

For small molecule programs, we work with our specialists in DMPK and medicinal chemistry to deliver connected science, whatever your project.

Specialty areas

Fibrosis

Fibrosis in major organs is a leading cause of death, usually instigated through injury.

When myofibroblasts proliferate and drive high levels of inflammation and immune cell activation, the irreversible damage of fibrosis can soon follow.

New therapies for this progressive and life-threatening disease are desperately needed and to develop them, we need a range of assays to look at the multifaceted processes involved.

Our team has designed assays and assessed many novel therapies across a range of tissue types.

Our assays include:

  • Target validation MoA studies
  • In vitro screening/testing
    • Macrophage polarisation
    • Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)
    • Wound healing (scratch assay)
    • Collagen contraction assay
  • Biomarker analysis
  • Tissue exposure and histology

Atopic dermatitis and psoriasis

Atopic dermatitis and psoriasis are common conditions affecting hundreds of millions of people across the world.

Although we are starting to understand the autoimmune triggers behind these skin conditions, and effective treatments are now available, we still have a way to go to prevent or cure them.

As more therapeutic research is targeted in this area, our team supports some of the leading drug developers working in this field.

Our assays help to establish efficacy early in development and provide the data packages needed to progress drugs through the pipeline.

  • T cell polarization (Th1, Th17, Treg)
  • Histological analysis
  • Keratinocyte proliferation and migration
  • Keratinocyte cytokine production and gene expression

We can also source human primary keratinocytes from healthy and diseased patients.

Multiple sclerosis

Marked by unknown causes and unpredictable progression and outcomes, the fight to understand and prevent multiple sclerosis (MS) is a challenging and difficult one.

Our neuroscience and immunology teams combine to provide the most advanced and tailored assays for the investigation of new drug therapies for MS:

  • Microglial/astrocyte activation and polarization
  • Microglial phagocytosis and migration
  • Oligodendrocyte differentiation
  • Inflammasome activation
  • Experimental autoimmune-induced encephalomyelitis (EAE)
  • Post-mortem human MS tissue to validate target expression

Want to find out more?

Our multi-disciplinary teams mitigate risk by employing knowledge, foresight and thought leadership to all our client’s diverse programs enabling the highest chance of success. Get in touch to find out how we can support you.