Natural products are central to a new drug discovery alliance announced by LGC and Novacta Biosystems
LGC, an independent analytical laboratory providing advanced chemical, biochemical and forensic analysis, has signed a memorandum of collaboration with Novacta Biosystems, a Hertfordshire based drug discovery and development company formed to commercialise bioactive natural products.
In the collaboration, LGC will market and provide access to Novacta's well-documented natural product library of 10,000 actinomycetes, creating a novel addition to the screening services available to drug discovery companies.
The database associated with Novacta's collection provides extensive information relating to the organisms, a form of bacteria, including their antimicrobial or antiviral and enzyme inhibition activities where available.
60% of drugs currently on the market have been derived from natural products.
They are especially appropriate for lead discovery in pain control, anti-tumour and anti-infective drug discovery programmes, and as novel starting points for combinatorial libraries.
Derek Craston, head of LGC's pharmaceutical and chemical services division, said: "This collaboration is a positive addition to our drug discovery package.
"We will provide the marketing behind Novacta's natural product catalogue and the analytical power for customers to test these products.
"Novacta's highly experienced team of staff are drawn from major pharmaceutical companies and the biotechnology industry and provide a wealth of expertise in natural product chemistry".
John Sime, Novacta's business development director, said: "Benefiting from LGC's experience of the pharmaceutical and life science markets, providing access to our natural product library may help more drug discovery companies to identify and develop their drug targets.
"LGC can also prioritise any hits from the screening process - and ultimately fractionate molecules from selected organisms and identify novel lead compounds - through its technical know-how in bioanalysis, separation science and informatics."
