Taros and Welab combine to provide discovery and development services

Taros Chemicals, a German small molecule clinical research organization (CRO), and Welab Barcelona, a Spanish drug discovery and development center, joined together in a strategic partnership to support client R&D.

The partners stated that through the deal, they would be able to create a ‘one-stop-shop’, which would provide access to both companies’ capabilities.

In terms of their respective roles, Taros possesses synthetic and medicinal chemistry expertise, including hit identification, hit to lead and lead optimization, as well as drug design and molecular modeling services.

For Welab’s part, the Spanish company has an R&D platform that provides in-vitro and in-vivo pharmacology, DMPK (drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics), and toxicology services.

Companies looking to use the service will gain access to a combined library of more than 115,000 drug-like compounds, as well as being able to address specific modalities, such as peptides and oligonucleotides chemistry.

Together, the companies will have an operational base of approximately 5,000-square-meters of chemistry and biology lab infrastructure, as well as an additional 500-square-meters of animal lab space.

According to Welab, its R&D site is the largest integrated drug discovery center in Spain, with 2,331-square-meters of space dedicated to research laboratories. The facilities are located within the Science Park of Barcelona.

Taros holds facilities in Dortmund, Germany, and a plant in Hyderabad, India. The Dortmund location provides chemical process development, while the Indian facility is able to provide a transition from lab to larger-scale production.

Dimitrios Tzalis, CEO at Taros Chemicals, said, “Many of our customers have kept asking our drug discovery experts for genuine native integrated biology services. Establishing this partnership with our Spanish colleagues will now close this gap and provide our clients with an end-to-end portfolio along the execution of their pre-clinical development programs.”

The partnership deal between the two companies is the second one that Welab has signed this year. In January, the company also agreed a deal with Pharmacelera, a provider of computation tools for hit discovery, to create a solution for new chemical entities. The two partners stated that they would provide an offering that could take clients from hit finding up to pre-clinical development, taking on a similar aspect to the partnership with Taros.