Albany Molecular Research goes global
Singapore and India and a recent Eastern European acquisition,
US-based Albany Molecular Research (AMR) used Interphex 2006 to
highlight its new range of global services.
Through its new locations, the drug discovery company, providing chemistry services to the biopharma industry, has built upon its existing operations in the US to diversify and globalise its services among technologies, geography and range of cost structures, and in doing so has positioned itself for significant growth.
The recently completed acquisition of private drug discovery services company, ComGenex, in Budapest, Hungary, further expands AMR's range of global chemistry services and for the first time allows AMR to provide its services from within Europe at a competitive price.
"We now have an immediate presence in Europe in an EU member state with a significantly lower cost structure than Western European countries, while maintaining access to a comparable talent pool not only in Hungary, but all of Europe and neighboring regions," said AMR chairman, president and CEO, Thomas D'Ambra.
"ComGenex also broadens AMR's customer base and gives us immediate relationships or access to pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers in England and Europe, which up until now have not accounted for major discovery or development and small scale chemistry services revenue," he said.
ComGenex, which generated approximately $8.5m in contract revenue last year, also allows AMR to expand upon a range of technologies not currently offered in Budapest.
The acquisition follows shortly after the company opened two new facilities in Asia in a bid to gain a foothold in this region's budding drug discovery services market.
Late last year, AMR opened its new 16,000 square foot facility is located in Singapore, near the Biopolis, a major biomedical research hub.
The facility can accommodate over 50 scientists and capabilities include medicinal chemistry support, custom synthesis of building blocks and scaffolds, as well as non-GMP scale up.
AMRI has an additional 29,000 square feet of space in Singapore at this facility and plans to add laboratories for cGMP synthesis and analytical chemistry, as well as additional facilities for chemical synthesis.
At the same time the company also opened its first laboratory in Hyderabad, India, to be used for custom synthesis of scaffolds and building blocks, as well as preparation of reference standards.
A second laboratory for preparing up to kilogram quantities of pharmaceutical intermediates, starting materials and other compounds, is currently under construction and expected to be operational soon. Together, the two laboratories in India are anticipated to accommodate up to 30 scientists.
"Our worldwide chemistry services platform has enhanced our ability to provide customers with a flexible range of services and competitive cost models and customer response to our flexible mix of global and US-based resources has been overwhelmingly positive," said D'Ambra.
"As we approach 2006, we look forward to further expansion in Singapore and India and Europe and the continued success of our global chemistry platform," he said.
