Author name: ASolia

Axxam enters into a research collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for Assay Development and High Throughput Screening of selected targets in oncology June 18th, 2015 – Axxam SpA (Milan/Italy), a leading provider of discovery services, has entered into a multi-year collaboration with the Institute for Applied Cancer Science (IACS) at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson).  The aim of the collaboration is to identify lead chemical matters against novel oncology targets provided by MD Anderson. The collaboration leverages Axxam’s expertise in assay development, Axxam’s fully automated screening platforms and access to Axxam’s novel compound collection AxxDiv2.0. The collaboration builds on a strong working relationship between Axxam and MD Anderson. Open PDF document

Axxam announces the appointment of Dr. Russell Thomas as Director of Discovery Research May 4th, 2015 – Axxam SpA (Milan/Italy), a privately owned contract research and discovery company, announced today that Dr. Russell Thomas has joined the company as Director of Discovery Research. Russell brings to Axxam considerable industry experience that spans from target discovery to clinical proof of concept at Siena Biotech, Proteros, Evotec and GlaxoWellcome. Russell is joining Axxam from Siena Biotech, where he was initially head of Medicinal Chemistry, before becoming Director of Project Operations and External Alliances and more recently General Manager. In these various roles Russell guided a range of neuroscience and oncology projects from initial hit validation and subsequent optimization, leading to a number of preclinical and clinical candidates. He is one of the inventors of selisistat, which is currently progressing through clinical trials as a potential disease modifying approach to Huntington’s disease. During his time at Proteros, in the role of Vice President of Lead Discovery, Russell had strategic responsibility for all existing and potential new collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech partners and played a key role in the start-up of Rodin Therapeutics with Atlas Venture. At Evotec, as a Department Head in Medicinal Chemistry, Russell was responsible for guiding a range of discovery alliances with international pharmaceutical and biotech companies. These alliances led to the delivery of a number of preclinical and clinical candidates. In the seven years that Russell spent at Glaxo, subseqently GlaxoWellcome, he worked as a senior medicinal chemist, mainly in the field of antibacterials. Originally from Swansea in Wales, he obtained a Ph.D in synthetic organic chemistry in the group of Prof. Stan Roberts at Exeter University, after graduating in Chemistry from the University of Kent. Open PDF document

Aptuit LLC and Axxam SpA announce Strategic Alliance for Integrated Drug Discovery Services. Commence major integrated discovery program for large Pharma sponsor Greenwich, CT and Milan (Italy) – April 14, 2015 – Aptuit LLC, a premier global drug discovery and development CRO and Axxam SpA, a leading discovery company with expertise in target biology and a broad range of early phase discovery solutions, announced a strategic alliance to provide comprehensive and integrated services from gene to high quality candidates and beyond. This partnership will allow the companies to offer the best-in-class fully integrated drug discovery and development services, supported by a culture of scientific excellence and innovation. Aptuit and Axxam are also delighted to announce that the partnership has already resulted in the commencement of the first significant joint integrated project with a large pharma sponsor. Open Pdf Document

ALZHEIMER’S DRUG DISCOVERY FOUNDATION AND AXXAM CONTINUE THEIR SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION TO DEVELOP NOVEL THERAPEUTICS FOR ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE   New York (USA) / Milan (Italy), 18th December 2014 –  The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and Axxam SpA (Axxam) announced today that ADDF has awarded a follow-on grant to Axxam to further develop small molecule drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease by targeting inflammation. This grant follows two previous awards by ADDF to Axxam in 2011 and 2013.   The award will continue to fund a drug discovery project to identify compounds that selectively block the purinergic receptor, P2X7, which is involved in inflammation in the brain.  Research activities  under the previous grants have identified a new class of promising P2X7 selective antagonists that are currently under full expansion as well as lead compounds suitable for in vivo assessment in pharmacological models.   “Compounds that potently and selectively block P2X7 may treat brain inflammation and can potentially be useful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases,” said Howard Fillit, MD, Founding Executive Director and Chief Science Officer, ADDF.  “P2X7 is an unexplored target for this indication and we are excited to fund the program and investigate its therapeutic potential.”   “We are very pleased to obtain continuing support from the ADDF with this peer-reviewed grant, which recognizes the quality of our research capabilities in the challenging field of neuroinflammation and our ability to deliver what was promised,” said Stefan Lohmer, co-founder and CEO of Axxam.  “We are looking forward to continuing to work with the ADDF team and further move our Alzheimer’s disease program forward.”   Open PDF Document

Axxam and F.Hoffman La Roche Ltd enter into research collaboration Axxam SpA enters into research collaboration with F.Hoffmann – La Roche Ltd. for assay development and screening of selected drug targets Milan (Italy), November 19th, 2014 – Axxam SpA (Milan/Italy), a leading provider of discovery services has entered a collaboration with F. Hoffmann – La Roche Ltd to discover new small molecules targeting various targets across multiple disease areas. The collaboration will speed up the development of small molecule drugs by accessing Axxam’s specific target expertise and advanced screening technologies. The  research collaboration  includes  assay development, adaptation to fully automated screening stations and HTS using  the compound collection of F. Hoffmann – La Roche Ltd. Identified Hits will be characterized and validated with mode of action studies and selectivity screens  using  Axxam`s proprietary cell lines. The activities will be carried out both at the Axxam site in Milan, as well as at Hit Discovery Constance (HDC) GmbH in Constance/Germany, a new joint venture organisation between Axxam (Milan/Italy), Lead Discovery Center (Dortmund/Germany) and Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3, KULeuven, Leuven/Belgium). Combined with HDC’s already established HTS services and compound storage facilities, Axxam represents one of the largest screening hubs worldwide. Dr. Doris Hafenbradl, VP Discovery Services at Axxam and Managing Director at HDC commented: “The collaboration with F.Hoffmann – La Roche is a further demonstration that our key expertise in assay development and  HTS  is well recognized within the pharmaceutical industry. Our continuous investments in enabling screening technologies, combined with our science-driven attitude is absolutely crucial to generate and deliver excellent data quality. We are very pleased  that F.Hoffmann – La Roche has selected us as a partner and we  are looking forward to collaborate intensively and successfully with our colleagues  at  F.Hoffmann – La Roche.” Open PDF document

BANDO DI SELEZIONE PER LA PARTECIPAZIONE AL PROGETTO DI FORMAZIONE CTN01_00177_962865   “Formazione di personale altamente qualificato orientato allo sviluppo dei vaccini contro agenti microbici responsabili di malattie infettive” Scarica qui il Bando contenente tutte le informazioni per partecipare alla selezione. Scarica qui il modulo inerente l  a richiesta di partecipazione.

Axxam launches the ion channel-FLASH technology based on light mediated activation of voltage-gated ion channels April 29th, 2014 – Axxam SpA (Milan/Italy), a leading provider of discovery services has developed ion channelFLASH, an innovative approach for the “in vitro” study of voltage-gated ion channels. Axxam scientists have turned the idea of target activation by light impulse into a new technology platform, which allows assays for voltage-gated ion channels to be run without the need of artificial activation with KCl. In the ion channelFLASH platform, the activation of a voltage-gated ion channel is triggered by a light impulse. This light impulse activates channel rhodopsin, a light sensitive ion channel cloned from the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinardti, which triggers a membrane depolarization thereby  activating the voltage-gated ion channels. Ion channelFLASH based assays can be used on FLIPRTETRA and other similar instruments which use LED-based photon generating systems eliminating time consuming, low throughput and expensive patch-clamp based methods for ion channel discovery research. The ion channelFLASH platform, which comprises different channel rhodopsin receptors, will be used to provide clients with a turnkey approach for the generation of innovative cell-based assays as research and screening tools for the important target class of voltage-gated ion channels. The technology is based on a license agreement with Max-Planck-Innovation GmbH (München/Germany) for the use of biological photoreceptors to directly light-activate ion channels. Under the license, Axxam gains access to the channel rhodopsin technology discovered by Ernst Bamberg and Georg Nagel from the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics (MPI) and Peter Hegemann from the University of Regensburg, which is protected through several patent applications. The MPI is an Institute of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V. (“MPG”), Germany´s leading basic research organization. Open Pdf document

Axxam and Cellectis bioresearch announce their collaboration to offer a new generation of cell-based assays January 17th, 2014 – Axxam (Milan), a leading provider of discovery services including assay development for high throughput screening, and Cellectis bioresearch (Paris), the cell engineering expert, have started a collaboration to offer to the Life Science industry an extensive range of integrated discovery services based on genomic engineering technologies. Under the joint offering, clients will be provided with a one-stop-shop approach for the generation of cell-based assays through genomic engineering. Genes of interest will be modified using Cellectis bioresearch’s proprietary genome engineering technologies, after which functional cellular assays will be developed using Axxam’s expertise and technologies for cell line generation. Both the required gene modification and the resulting functionality change will be experimentally demonstrated. Finally, validated assays for screening and profiling experiments will be provided to the client. With the currently available genome engineering technologies virtually any gene, at any position, in any cell type can be addressed for a wide range of applications such as knock-in insertions, knock-out deletions, reporter cell line generations and others. Open PDF document

Hit Discovery Constance GmbH: a new European hub for HTS and compound management Constance (Germany), January 14th, 2014 – Today Hit Discovery Constance GmbH (“HDC”), a new joint venture organisation between Lead Discovery Center (Dortmund/Germany), Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3, KULeuven, Leuven/Belgium) and Axxam (Milan/Italy) has started its operation. The new company is based in Constance (Germany) and will make use of the already established equipment and know-how of the former Takeda/Nycomed/Altana screening and compound management facilities at the site. HDC is a service oriented company which provides high quality drug discovery research services to the Life Science industry and academic or research institutions. The offering includes assay development, High Throughput Screening (“HTS”) using radiometric formats, as well as conventional biochemical and cellular assay formats, automated High Content Screening (“HCS”) and Biosafety level 2 (BSL2) HTS. HDC’s labs are equipped with three state-of-the-art screening stations, a Screening Collection of 240.000 compounds and offer a REMP-based compound storage & handling facility which allows high quality storage and high throughput compound picking activities. Combined with Axxam`s already established HTS services and compound storage facilities, HDC represent one of the largest screening hubs worldwide. Open PDF document

Axxam: A new generation screening collection (AXXDIV2.0) is now available for drug discovery programs Bresso (Milan, Italy), September 23rd 2013 – Axxam S.p.A., a contract research and discovery company, announced today that an entirely new generation screening collection is now available for drug discovery programs: AXXDIV2.0 made up of around  240,000 carefully selected small molecules. The selection of the compounds was carried out building on Axxam’s broad screening expertise and significant input was given by the Company’s team of medicinal and computational chemists to ensure that the identified screening hits may represent promising and favorable starting points for further optimization. In order to meet the manifold needs of customers, the new screening collection AXXDIV2.0 includes three different subsets: Discovery Set (providing a scaffold based approach), Explorer Set (ensuring highest chemical diversity), and Probe Set (covering the fragment-like space). Enamine was chosen as the compounds supplier having one of the world’s largest, most diverse and novel screening collection. Through Axxam`s partnership with Enamine, building blocks for all the compounds can be provided to allow significant speed up of the hit expansion and optimization processes. Dr. Doris Hafenbradl, VP Discovery Services, Axxam, said: “Key for any successful hit discovery program is the quality of the compound library. That’s why we put a major effort into assembling this compound collection and applied the most stringent filters to favor lead-like properties. With this new collection we are addressing the needs of our clients to provide novel chemistry combined with a flexible model of generating custom subsets. The feedback from our customers has been extremely positive.” ABOUT AXXAM Axxam is a privately owned contract research and discovery company. The Company has developed a proven track record as a third party research and discovery services provider for the life science industry.  In addition, Axxam conducts several discovery programs for selected targets which are carried out in partnership with other companies or non-profit organizations. Dr. Doris Hafenbradl Vice President Discovery Services Axxam S.p.A. t:  +39 02 2105680 e: doris.hafenbradl.dh[at]axxam.com