France's NovAliX acquires majority interest in Germany's Graffinity

Strasbourg, France-based NovAliX said this morning that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in Graffinity Pharmaceuticals GmbH of Heidelberg, Germany, a leading fragment based drug discovery services company. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

NovAliX’ president Stephan Jenn stated: "The acquisition of Graffinity will be a significant step toward our goal of providing integrated drug discovery services. With a unique and diverse small-molecule library and patented SPR-imaging technology, the Graffinity platform is fully complementary to NovAliX’ offerings in X-Ray crystallography, supramolecular mass spectrometry and liquid-/solid-state NMR. With this second technology-oriented acquisition in 2010, we are forming a group of more than 120 scientists developing and applying cutting edge research capabilities in discovery and development of innovative medicines. We are an external innovation partner for our pharmaceutical clients."

Kristina Schmidt, chief executive of Graffinity, commented: "NovAliX and Graffinity, both being management- and employee-owned companies, share common entrepreneurial values which have driven seamless integration as we have already experienced in joint projects. We now have a complete offering of discovery services covering the spectrum from first hit generation to lead optimization.”