Dive Brief:
- Contract researcher and manufacturer AMRI announced on Feb. 7 it has teamed up with Bruker Daltonics and HighRes Biosolutions, gaining access to the duo's high throughput mass spectrometry technology in an effort to boost its drug discovery capabilities.
- Under the alliance, AMRI will deploy the MALDI PharmaPulse system at its drug discovery center. Technicians from Bruker and HighRes will train AMRI biologists on the system.
- The highly sensitive system — which combines Bruker's mass spectrometers with HighRes’s robotics and software — can screen more than 10,000 samples per day to pinpoint "hits" from a pool of potential candidates for development.
Dive Insight:
AMRI’s services to pharma and biotech clients range from drug discovery and development to API and drug product manufacturing. With this latest alliance, AMRI said it will gain improved assays and screening strategies to speed discovery and move candidates into development faster.
Christopher Conway, head of discovery and development services at AMRI, described the PharmaPulse system as "the first technology to allow [mass spectrometry]-based screening and analysis at the output required for cost-effective hit discovery."
AMRI also hopes to build out the technology to include use in cell-based assays and MS-based biochemical assays.
Under the strategic alliance, Bruker and HighRes will train and consult with AMRI researchers as they develop protocols for high-throughput screening, AMRI said.
In May 2016, AMRI acquired Euticals, an API manufacturer, in a $358 million deal aimed at expanding AMRI's presence in Europe.