Aptuit and Icagen agree to strategic alliance

Alliance to provide drug discovery customers access to industry leading ion channel and transporter technologies.

The strategic alliance will give Aptuit's customers access to Icagen's portfolio of assay tools and technologies for ion channel and transporter research, including their extensive collection of unique ion channel cell lines and their proprietary XRpro X-ray fluorescence technology platform. Icagen's customers are expected to benefit from Aptuit's wide range of integrated drug discovery solutions, including medicinal chemistry, in vitro DMPK, discovery pharmacology, computational chemistry and best-in-class analytical discovery support.

"This alliance allows us to offer our customers access to Aptuit's integrated drug discovery and development capabilities," said Richie Cunningham, President and CEO of Icagen, Inc. "Icagen's ultimate goal is to reduce the time and cost of bringing ion channel and transporter drug candidates to market for our clients. Aptuit's world leading expertise in integrated drug discovery we believe will increase Icagen's ability to efficiently advance our clients' drug candidates through pre-clinical development."

Jonathan Goldman, Aptuit CEO, added: "Customers have noted our unique capabilities in the medicinal chemistry areas and integrated discovery. We are delighted that this alliance with Icagen, and their expertise in ion channel and transporter technologies, has the potential to put both companies in a position to help our customers increase their chances of successful IND filing."

Dr Goldman continued, "Aptuit's integrated discovery solutions, coupled with broad non-clinical capabilities, are unique in the marketplace. We are focused on helping our customers discover, develop and produce drugs with very high quality, whilst minimizing operational risks."