Crown Bioscience Strengthens Oncology Expertise with Acquisition of PRECOS Ltd

Crown Bioscience Inc. often referred to as CrownBio, leads the field in providing unique translational platforms and cost effective drug discovery solutions for its biotech and pharmaceutical partners in two dedicated therapeutic areas: Oncology and Metabolic Disease. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company also has research facilities in Kannapolis, North Carolina (USA), Beijing (China) and Taicang (near Shanghai, China.) PRECOS Ltd is a contract research organization focused on providing clinically relevant oncology models for drug discovery. PRECOS has a 15 year pedigree of delivering reproducible, patient-relevant in vivo and in vitro oncology models as a business unit of the University of Nottingham, UK. In 2010 PRECOS became fully independent to provide a solely commercial service to its clients.

Jean-Pierre Wery, President of Crown Bioscience comments, “The acquisition represents the next step in expanding the range of specialized services we offer pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical customers worldwide. PRECOS has unique clinically relevant models, which reflect the patient situation for each aspect of cancer progression, encompassing pre-cancerous lesions, primary tumours and metastasis.” Jean-Pierre Wery continues, “We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of PRECOS, which offers Crown Bioscience an immediate footprint in Europe with a significantly sized organization to support engagement with European and global clients, as well as develop cutting-edge models and services for Crown Bioscience’s existing client base.”

Neil Rotherham, Chairman of PRECOS Ltd said today, “The acquisition of PRECOS by Crown Bioscience will enable PRECOS to continue expanding its business as part of a larger organization, giving Crown Bioscience clients access to PRECOS’s unique and growing panel of Patient-Derived Xenograft (PDX), orthotopic and metastatic modelling and imaging services. Our innovative models and expertise provide a perfect complement to Crown Bioscience’s robust panel of models and services, and our geographical location provides a European hub for Crown Bioscience’s rapidly expanding client base in Europe. The security of being part of a larger, global and rapidly growing organization like Crown Bioscience will enable us to continue to invest in providing leading-edge model development services to the wider oncology drug discovery community.”

Both companies have a highly respected reputation and will continue to honor their on-going commitment to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies across the globe, with all current service agreements and client projects continuing as usual. With an established track record in providing expert support to direct cancer drug development projects from concept to clinic, the acquisition of PRECOS bolsters Crown Bioscience’s services globally. The larger organization will now be able to offer a unique range of quality models, imaging capabilities and scientific expertise to clients working in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

For more information please email pr@mail.crownbio.com, call +1-855-827-6968 (Toll free) or visit www.crownbio.com (for Crown Bioscience, Inc.) or emailenquiries@precos.co.uk, call +44 (0)870 166 6234 or visit www.precos.co.uk (for PRECOS Ltd). 

Founded in 2006, Crown Bioscience is a premier drug discovery and development service company providing cutting-edge translational platforms and cost effective drug discovery solutions for its biotech and pharmaceutical partners in dedicated therapeutic areas: Oncology and Metabolic Disease. Our proprietary HuPrime®, HuKemia®, HuBase™, HuMark™, HuTrials™ and HuSignature™ platforms enable unique lead optimization and translational strategies to deliver superior clinical candidates. Headquartered in Santa Clara California, Crown Bioscience has operations in China (Beijing and Jiangsu Taicang) and the USA (NC) with business offices in Boston, Princeton, RTP, Phoenix, Milan and Shanghai. For more information, please visit http://www.crownbio.com.

PRECOS Ltd. is a flexible pre-clinical research and development service with a specific focus on oncology, with an established track record in providing expert support to direct cancer drug development projects from concept to clinic. PRECOS evaluates the innovative cancer medicines of the future in patient-relevant models to ensure that pre-clinical efficacy assessment is predictive of how the drug is likely to behave in clinical trials with cancer patients. The PRECOS team of expert scientists assist in the selection and execution of appropriate analytical systems by a staged approach of in vitro studies,in vivo model development, subsequent in vivo mechanistic and therapeutic evaluations and post-study analyses, all conveyed with added value through specialist scientific interpretation of the data. PRECOS scientists apply cutting-edge technology and ideas to individual research programmes and delivers a flexible, tailored approach to all research objectives, whether a one-off service or a complete research programme.

PRECOS, an acronym of Pre-Clinical Oncology Services, was officially launched as a specialist business unit of the University of Nottingham (UK) in 2004. PRECOS evolved from the research expertise of the Division of Pre-clinical Oncology (formerly Academic Unit of Studies), which had successful collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the UK, EU, US and Japan for over a decade. In 2010, PRECOS was spun out of the University as a Limited company. For further information: www.PRECOS.co.uk

For further press information please contact: Sarah Morley – The Scott Partnership, 1 Whiteside, Station Road, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, CW4 8AA, United Kingdom. Tel: + 44 1477 539 539 Fax: +44 1477 539 540 E-mail: PRECOS@scottpr.com