BioAscent Discovery in agreement with Pivot Park Screening Centre

BioAscent to manage PPSC’s library of over 300,000 compounds

BioAscent Discovery has announced an agreement with Pivot Park Screening Centre (PPSC, Oss, The Netherlands), under which it is managing PPSC’s entire screening collection of over 300,000 compounds. By accessing BioAscent’s infrastructure and technologies, PPSC is able to optimise the use of its compounds and preserve their quality, in addition to saving time during the screening process.

Founded in 2013, BioAscent is the rejuvenated former Merck Sharpe and Dohme (MSD) automated compound management and logistics facility, based within the BioCity Scotland site at Newhouse, Scotland, UK. The Newhouse facility offers scalable and highly secure infrastructure, capable of storing over 4 million compounds in solid and liquid formats, and numerous tube and microplate types, from ambient to -20 °C. As well as ongoing sample management, BioAscent has extensive reformatting capabilities and has already transferred 233,000 aliquots of DMSO stock solutions from microplates into individual tubes. This additional tube format will enable PPSC to cherry pick ‘hit’ compounds following primary ultra-high throughput screening and to confirm and validate their activity on the target. PPSC will also be able to undertake follow up assays faster than before.

The agreement follows a year-on-year increase in the number of compounds and individual libraries that BioAscent manages on behalf of clients in Europe and the US, and consolidates the company’s position as one of the largest and most efficient outsourced sample management providers in the world.

Commenting on the agreement, Mirjam Mol-Arts MD, PPSC’s CEO said: "We want to focus on our core areas of expertise, accelerating drug discovery via ultra-high throughput screening and assay development using our leading-edge infrastructure and in-depth experience. By outsourcing the management of our collection to BioAscent we have been able to benefit from their expertise and specialised equipment. This has helped us optimise the use of our extensive compound collection while preserving its integrity and quality, in turn enabling us to offer our customers an even more effective, flexible and cost-efficient service."

"We continue to see a significant year-on-year increase in the number of compounds and individual libraries that we manage on behalf of clients in Europe and the US," said Paul Smith, CEO, BioAscent. "Pharma and biotech companies outsource their sample management to us because of our high capacity, state-of-the-art facility, and the expertise of our team. They stay with us because of the care we take in managing their collections and the unparalleled service in preparing and distributing their compounds quickly and efficiently."