Krakow, Poland – 27 March 2019 – Selvita, one of the largest providers of drug discovery services in Europe, announced the summary of the progression of its infrastructure development strategy initiated in 2017 which aimed at expansion of the range of capabilities offered by the Services Segment by introducing new disease area know how, technologies and competences.

Over the last two years, Selvita has introduced new technologies, extended drug discovery capabilities and increased competences which allowed to broaden the range of services and increased the clients base. The development of Selvita’s CRO offer has been driven by a growing demand for integrated research services performed under one roof. Hence, the company invested in the equipment which allows to perform wider spectrum of activities, run projects in even more efficient manner and speed up the drug discovery cycle to offer more added value to its customers.

In 2018, the Services Segment increased its capital expenditure to PLN 14 MM, which means an increase of 71% compared to 2017. The investments in the Biology Division grew by 56% and in the Contract Chemistry Division by 99%.

– Meeting clients’ requirements and exceeding their expectations has always played a key role in Services Segment’s development. Having been driven by our customers’ needs we significantly invested in the technologies which enabled us to expand the scope of collaborations and to enter into new areas. – says Edyta Jaworska, Management Board Member at Selvita.

As a consequence of implementing this strategy, in 2018 the Services Segment of Selvita increased the number of integrated drug discovery projects, completed comprehensive studies for biosimilar drugs as well as substantially expanded collaborations in the area of analytical chemistry. New contracts are the result of gaining state-of-the-art equipment and recruiting experienced scientists from Poland and abroad.

The Chemistry Department of Selvita acquired state-of-the-art equipment allowing to expand a portfolio of purification methods, speeding up the medicinal chemistry process and performing it in an automated fashion (Agilent Purification platform, Interchim Flash and Waters UPLC system). Besides that, it also invested in new technologies like electrochemistry, photochemistry and flow chemistry.

The Biology Department made essential steps into implementation of new products and services. One of the key milestones is establishing of protein expression system using mammalian cells for the production of monoclonal antibodies and other proteins that require specific modifications not available in other methods. It also expanded its infrastructure related to non-GxP services, such as assay development and miniaturization for hit identification purposes, screening and profiling for drug discovery purposes (SAR), as well as identification of therapeutic mode of action (MoA). The Analytical Laboratory acquired a number of UHPLC and GC systems with various detectors to accommodate a rapidly growing demand for analytical services, as well as significantly developed its GMP area.

Over the last years, the Services Division consistently executed its strategy and expanded the laboratory space as well as invested in specialized equipment to satisfy clients’ needs and expectations. Access to high-quality laboratory infrastructure is one of the key factors for further Selvita’s intensive growth – adds Jaworska.

Selvita Services Segment

Selvita Services Segment is a drug discovery and development partner for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. It provides integrated drug discovery support starting from hit identification, hit to lead, lead optimization phase up to nomination of a preclinical candidate. The broad range of services includes medicinal and computational chemistry, custom synthesis and scale-up, in vitro pharmacology, structural biology, protein chemistry, ADME/DMPK as well as a comprehensive offer of analytical testing for APIs and drug products. In addition, Selvita Services Segment has extensive expertise in comparability studies of biosimilar drugs. Its laboratories are both GLP- and GMP-certified.

About Selvita

Selvita S.A. is a clinical stage drug discovery company engaged in the research and development of novel cancer therapies, as well as provision of integrated drug discovery services. Selvita is headquartered in Krakow, Poland, with offices in the USA (Greater Boston, San Francisco Bay), and in the UK (Cambridge). Selvita has currently several projects at the early or late discovery stage. Drug discovery clients of Selvita include numerous large and medium-sized pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies from USA and Europe. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE:SLV).

Media contact:

Malgorzata Syjud
Selvita S.A.
malgorzata.syjud@selvita.com
+48 660 797 362