Quotient & KWS partner to boost antimicrobial service offering
Partnering combines Quotient Bioresearch’s capabilities in in-vitro testing, clinical services and other areas with disease model expertise at KWS BioTest. Bringing together these capabilities allows the partners to meet antimicrobial development needs from “plate to patient”.
KWS and Quotient have referred clients to each other for a several years but the relationship has always been at “arms length”, Ian Morrissey, director of anti-infectives at Quotient, told Outsourcing-Pharma.
Having inked the partnership Quotient and KWS will offer an integrated package and the option of a single contract for services from both companies. Openness and transparency will be needed to make the partnership work and Morrissey expects this to improve efficiency at both companies.
Services offered span support for discovery through to the clinic. Demand for these services is on the rise after resistance concerns and the emergence of alternatives to antibiotics kick-started a fairly stagnant sector, Neil Williams, director of science at KWS, told Outsourcing-Pharma.
Antimicrobial research and development spend is experiencing double-digit year-on-year growth, said Williams. This shift has seen infection, once a small part of sales at KWS, grow to account for around half of the business.
Building the relationship
In the mid-term Morrissey hopes to build on the relationship by adding anti-viral screening at Quotient. KWS has expertise in this area but little interest in adding large-scale screening services.
Quotient, in contrast, is very interested in entering the sector. As such, Morrissey hopesKWS will support Quotient as it adds large-scale anti-viral screening services to complement its bacterial and fungi capabilities.
Both companies presented the partnership this week at the 21st European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases 2011 (ECCMID 2011) in Milan, Italy.
Quotient began working with KWS in 2008 when it bought BioDynamics Research. KWS had worked with BioDynamics Research since 2005 and quickly realised they had complementary services and business models. The strategic partnership formalises the relationship.
