Oncodesign Services (ODS), a leading Contract Research Organization specialized in drug discovery and preclinical services, announces its international expansion through the acquisition of ZoBio, a Dutch CRO expert in biophysics-based small molecule drug discovery.

This acquisition allows ODS to strengthen and extend its expertise and capabilities in the field of small molecule discovery to a fully integrated offering to support its customers’ innovative programs from target validation to candidate selection.

ODS is notably well recognized for its expertise in preclinical evaluation of experimental therapies in major disease areas such as oncology and immuno-inflammation, as well as its expertise in medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, DMPK, pharmaco-imaging and molecular radiotherapy. The company has succeeded in developing several drug candidates that have reached the clinical development phase together with its partner clients.

Founded more than 19 years ago, ZoBio has developed a reputation for scientific excellence and innovation in the field of biophysics-based drug discovery. With its best-in-class platform of protein sciences, biophysical and functional assays, structural biology and a unique well diversified small molecule fragment library, ZoBio has helped its clients bring multiple compounds to the clinic.

With this transaction, ODS and ZoBio jointly represent nearly 280 employees spread across Dijon and Les Ulis in France, Leiden in Netherlands and with subsidiaries in Canada and the United States. The deal creates the foundation for ODS’s ambition to become a European leader in drug discovery by offering fully integrated drug discovery services and solutions, placing quality, scientific creativity, operational excellence and transparent client relationships at the heart of its strategy and investing in innovative technologies.

Dr Fabrice Viviani, CEO of ODS commented: “I am deeply grateful to my executive team with Gilles Cadiou, Sebastien Simon, Stephanie Belattar and to our investors Jean-François Felix and Maxence de Vienne from Elyan Partners who were instrumental to make this operation a real success.

“We are all very excited to welcome ZoBio to the Group, and thus strengthen our offering in small molecule drug discovery preclinical services from Gene-to-IND with leading-edge skills and technologies.

“Oncodesign Services and ZoBio are highly complementary, and we are extremely pleased that Gregg Siegal, Rob Heetebrij and Jan Schultz have decided to continue the adventure and commitment with us to identify novel preclinical candidates for our customers in major disease areas, and to benefit also from the many commercial and operational synergies to come.”

Dr Gregg Siegal, CEO of ZoBio said: “We are truly excited about the opportunity to combine our best-in-class Fragment Based Drug Discovery platform with the expertise of Oncodesign Services. We have looked at many ways to strategically expand our capabilities to cover a greater portion of the drug discovery pipeline and ODS was by far the best fit. Now we are looking forward to integrating with Fabrice’s team and bringing the best of both companies to our clients.”