Asterand, BMS Extend Service Pact

Asterand has extended its collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb for as many as three years, for access to Asterand’s PhaseZERO drug discovery services and XpressBANK of human tissue and clinical samples for validation of early drug targets and support for compound optimization.

Asterand chief executive officer, Martyn Coombs, commented: “This decision by BMS is an important validation of Asterand’s products and services. Asterand provides human based solutions that improve decision-making during the development of medicines. Our customers incorporate human tissue-based models at all stages of development from target identification to preclinical research. We are delighted that BMS has renewed our collaboration and our team looks forward to continuing to support their target validation and compound optimization programs.”

Asterand will continue to undertake a range of PhaseZERO studies for BMS in the areas of compound profiling and target validation that include gene and protein expression profiling and cell-based pharmacology assays. BMS will use Asterand’s XpressBANK of human tissue, bio-fluid, and cell lines and possibly its ProCURE custom clinical sample collection service.