Acumen Bioscience Ltd: Defining Cell Based Screening
Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly reliant on HTS to select compounds from the millions of candidates that may prove to be the next block buster drugs. Historically, screens have been based within a non-cellular environment, which does not fully mimic the complex drug metabolism processes that occur in life. Using patented laser based detection technology, developed by TTP, ABL specialises on the use of high information cell based assays within either the high throughput screening or research environment.
"Traditional high throughput screening has been very divorced from the reality of the effects of drugs on the body" said Dr Richard Philpott, Managing Director of Acumen. "The Acumen approach allows new assays that provide a greater insight into what is happening at the living cell level. For example, ADME-Tox studies can now be performed at a much earlier stage with unsuitable leads eliminated from the discovery pipeline, resulting in significant savings of time and money. This approach is the culmination of pioneering work in close collaboration with two leading pharmaceutical companies who now use the technology in their lead discovery programs. "
"The formation of this new company continues our strategy of developing leading edge technology solutions and allowing new companies that we have incubated to develop an identity and profile that will enable them to compete successfully and grow in their chosen market." commented Dr Gerald Avison, Chief Executive of TTP Group, "TTP has a good track record of developing successful technology for the pharmaceutical industry, the Acumen technology is already well received and we have several other projects at various stages of commercialisation".
Acumen's launch is at this years Society for Biochemical Screening Conference (10-13 September Baltimore, MA ), the premier global event for HTS technology.
Background
Acumen Bioscience is a wholly owned subsidiary of the TTP Group plc. Based in Melbourn, Cambridge, UK, Acumen Bioscience provides comprehensive solutions to the drug discovery market enabling both cell based and cell free assays to be carried out at throughputs that meet the demands of screening laboratories. The high information content of every assay gives a direct indication of a compounds therapeutic potential at the cellular and sub-cellular level. This will permit many previously inaccessible targets to be screened for the first time. It will generate data to allow the study of disease processes in real time at a cellular level and the effects of new therapeutic agents on those processes. Progress will be possible in diseases such as cancer, diabetes, autoimmunity and diseases of the central nervous system as well as many others.
The company provides a complete service to the screening laboratory, including the Acumen ExplorerTM laser based fluorescence detector instrument, assay protocols and reagents.
Acumen Technology
The Acumen instrumentation exploits the power of fluorescent dyes to elucidate subtle changes in biochemical events in cells in disease or treatment scenarios. The proprietary software algorithms provided allow measurement of changes in the morphology of cells and their fluorescent colour and brightness. The ability to use multiple dyes of different colours in the same assay and make simultaneous measurements of size and shape of cells and features inside cells provides the scientist with the ultimate tool to investigate cellular biochemistry at high throughputs.
High throughput screening
The discovery of new therapeutic agents for many diseases has become a vast and ever increasing task. The unravelling of the human genome has given pharmaceutical researchers a huge number of therapeutic targets. Each target must be screened against libraries of potential therapeutic agents that can exceed 1 million compounds. It is the goal of Acumen Bioscience Ltd to provide instrumentation, reagents and systems that allow the scientist to accomplish such screens in a timely manner whilst reporting accurate data that is relevant to the disease and its treatment. In this way new drugs will be discovered and diseases conquered.
TTP Group
TTP Group, better known as The Technology Partnership has been introducing new technology into the pharmaceutical industry for 14 years. Our approach is to identify critical areas in for example drug discovery where we believe we can make an impact.
We then invest in the development of the solution and incubate a new company that can bring it to the market. Examples include, Haystack, the compound and retrieval
system which now forms part of the extensive range of equipment offered by The Automation Partnership, a company that was demerged from TTP in 1998 and Myriad, the high throughput compound synthesis system, that was purchased from TTP by Mettler Toledo also in 1998. Acumen Bioscience builds on this successful track record.
For more information please contact:
Richard Philpott
Acumen Bioscience Ltd
Melbourn Science Park, Cambridge Road
Melbourn, Royston, Herts
SG8 6EE
Tel: +44 1763 262626
rphilpott@acumenbioscience.com
www.acusite.co.uk
David Parnell
The Technology Partnership plc
Melbourn Science Park, Cambridge Road
Melbourn, Royston, Herts
SG8 6EE
Tel: +44 1763 262626
dgp@techprt.co.uk
www.ttpgroup.com