Research equipment and a new facility are being added to the Nottingham based companyA Nottingham-based drug discovery company is to invest at least £600,000 in new research equipment during early 2015, as well as building a new Bioscience facility with the creation of new jobs.
Sygnature Discovery is establishing a new department to determine how potential new medicines affect the body, with a the new equipment being key purchase as it will enable Sygnature’s scientists to better understand the structure and properties of new test compounds.
Dr Paul Clewlow, a Board Director said: “Scientists in the new department will specialise in determining how the potential medicines designed and synthesised at Sygnature may be absorbed, distributed, metabolised and excreted by the body. They will collaborate closely with Sygnature’s chemists and bioscientists. All of the company’s scientists work together and will endeavour to ‘fine tune’ the profile of novel compounds which may, one day, become a medicine.”
Sygnature Discovery currently employs 120 staff, many of them scientists with PhDs. It has become the country’s largest independent drug discovery services business and is growing at a pace that means it will outgrow its existing facility.
The company is currently finalising a deal to become the anchor tenant in a new 50,000 sq. ft. purpose-built Biosciences hub, next to its current site.
Construction of the facility, which Nottingham City Council will contribute £6.5 million funding from the Local Growth Fund, is expected to commence this Spring, with completion in 2016.
Chief Executive and Founder of Sygnature Discovery, Dr Simon Hirst, anticipates that Sygnature Discovery will grow to between 200 and 250 staff in the foreseeable future. Most of these new employees will be PhD level research scientists.
Dr Clewlow said the new Bioscience facility will enhance Nottingham’s reputation in drug discovery and pharmaceutical research.
“It will be a fantastic facility,” he said, “and will enable Sygnature to continue its strong growth. It is our plan to create 80 new jobs over the next three years.
