Cambridge, UK … Cambridge Combinatorial Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford Molecular Group plc (London Stock Exchange: OMG) today announced the signing of a collaboration with Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Company Ltd, Osaka, Japan.

Under the terms of the deal, Cambridge Combinatorial will provide training to chemists from Fujisawa in solid phase synthesis, combinatorial chemistry, robotics and chemical analysis in their facility in Cambridge. Furthermore a well designed, targeted library based on templates supplied by Fujisawa will also be generated.

"This collaboration shows the increasing recognition in Japan of the quality of our chemistry," said Dr Allan Marchington, Chief Executive of Cambridge Combinatorial. "It also shows our flexibility in establishing commercial relationships. We do not simply synthesise and sell libraries but provide a full range of chemistry services including training, which our customers can access in a variety of ways to fit their own R&D programmes."

During the collaboration, the Fujisawa chemists will work for periods within Cambridge Combinatorial’s laboratories in a project to be managed by Dr T Tapolczay, Cambridge Combinatorial’s Vice-President of Research. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Masanobu Kohsaka, PhD, Managing Director, Research Division, Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, said, "Cambridge Combinatorial has a proven record in providing chemistry services to the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology industries. We are very pleased to have entered a collaboration which will allow us to benefit from access to their technology and hopefully provide the foundation for an ongoing relationship."

Cambridge Combinatorial Limited

Cambridge Combinatorial Limited provides world-class, innovative chemistry services to accelerate discovery and process research, servicing the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology industries. The Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford Molecular Group Plc. Cambridge Combinatorial has developed leading technologies for discovery research including innovative molecular design, novel chemistries, new synthetic chemistry platforms and a comprehensive integrated informatics system. The company acts as an extension to the resources of its collaborators with solutions for discovery research including medicinal and combinatorial chemistry for lead generation, validation, optimisation and technology transfer as required.

Cambridge Combinatorial supplies the molecular design and synthesis arm of Oxford Molecular’s Collaborative Discovery. Collaborative Discovery acts as a central point for multi-disciplinary research projects involving both chemistry and biology research. Cambridge Combinatorial has secured many discovery collaborations with a range of pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology companies, spanning the US, Japan and Europe, these include: Procter & Gamble, Rohm & Haas, Solvay Duphar, Dainippon Pharmaceutical, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Alizyme and Oxford Glycosciences.

Oxford Molecular Group plc

Oxford Molecular is a worldwide provider of drug discovery and information technology research services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical industries. Headquartered in Oxford, England, the company also has operations in eight US cities, as well as sales offices and agents around the world. It has two trading divisions: Discovery Solutions and Software Solutions. Within Software Solutions the company supplies desktop and enterprise-wide software solutions that support research across the entire discovery process, including target identification, lead identification and optimization, molecular modeling and physico-chemical property prediction. Within Discovery Solutions, Collaborative Discovery offers an integrated, highly cost-effective solution for accelerating drug discovery utilizing teams of experienced pharmaceutical researchers who use state-of-the-art technologies to develop novel targets and advanced screening capabilities, design novel active compounds and synthesize high quality compounds using combinatorial chemistry.

Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd