News

Axxam Announces Two Discovery Collaboration Agreements with Boehringer Ingelheim Axxam announced that the discovery research and services company has entered into two drug research collaboration agreements with Boehringer Ingelheim. The first collaboration agreement aims to identify and validate therapeutic targets with subsequent assay development, high-throughput screening (HTS) and lead optimization through the joint efforts of Axxam and Boehringer Ingelheim researchers. The second agreement covers the transfer of protein material and a corresponding specific functional assay for high-throughput screening (HTS) to Boehringer Ingelheim. Axxam will receive fees as the collaboration progresses and milestone payments for successful exploitation of results through development stages. Further financial details of the agreements are not disclosed.

Axxam Appoints Rose A. Lance to Lead Business Development in North America Axxam has appointed Rose A. Lance to lead the company’s business development efforts in North America. Based in Boston, MA in the United States, Ms. Lance will be responsible for marketing and promotion of discovery services and products for the rapidly-growing biotechnology company. She has more than 20 years of experience performing market analysis, in-licensing, product management, strategic planning and forecasting in life science markets. Before joining Axxam, Rose A. Lance conducted business development for 454 Life Sciences in Brandford, CT. Previously, she worked for companies such as Boehringer Mannheim, NovoNordisk and DAKO Corp. Rose received her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from Southern Illinois University, USA.

Axxam recognized as Young Innovative Company 2006 with Premio Unioncamere award The contribution of Axxam to Italian business was rewarded by Unioncamere, the organization uniting all of the Italian Chambers of Commerce, with the recent presentation in Rome of the prestigious Premio Unioncamere. Axxam received the Young Innovative Company award for 2006. The company was one of 14 entrepreneurs chosen from 300 nominations of companies from all over Italy.

Axxam Provides Screening Assays to NIH Chemical Genomics Centre for Collaboration on NIH Roadmap Initiative Axxam announced today that it has signed an agreement with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide access to a selection of screening assays of special interest to the NIH Chemical Genomics Centre (NCGC) for use in the screening campaigns within the Molecular Libraries Roadmap Initiative. The screening assays were developed and optimized at Axxam for ultra high-throughput screening (uHTS) applications using ultra sensitive signal detection methods. “We are very pleased to collaborate with the NIH Chemical Genomics Centre in support of their screening efforts,” stated Dr. Lia Scarabottolo, head of cell biology at Axxam. “We believe that our expertise in the uHTS sector, with a particular emphasis on cell-based assays and their use in large screening campaigns, could provide an important contribution to the future success of the Roadmap initiative at the NCGC.” About the NCGC and the NIH Roadmap Initiative The NCGC is an ultrahigh-throughput screening and chemistry centre which discovers chemical probes of gene and cell functions across the genome using its quantitative HTS (qHTS) technology, and develops new paradigms for screening that enable chemical genomics and downstream drug development. Located within the National Human Genome Research Institute as part of the NIH Roadmap, all of the NCGC’s results are made freely available via PubChem (http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). NIH Roadmap for Medical research is a series of far-reaching initiatives designed to transform the Nation’s medical research capabilities and speed the movement of scientific discoveries from the bench to the bedside. It provides a framework of the priorities the NIH must address in order to optimize its entire research portfolio and lays out a vision for a more efficient and productive system of medical research. Additional information about the NCGC can be found at www.ncgc.nih.gov, about the NIH Roadmap at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov, and about the NIH at www.nih.gov.

Axxam Opens New Facility at Polaris Science and Technology Park (Cagliari) Axxam announced the opening of its new research facility at Polaris, the Scientific and Technological Park of Sardinia (Italy), a new centre of excellence for biotechnology. The new Axxam facility is located in the life science technologies centre in Pula (Cagliari) where pharmacology and genomics research is conducted by specialised laboratories. POLARIS is a multipolar and multisectorial park financed by a joint of effort of the European Commission and the Sardinian Regional Government that promotes research and technology transfer.

Axxam Appoints Suzanne Beveridge as Chief Corporate Communications Suzanne Beveridge has joined Axxam as Chief Corporate Communications, a newly-created position that will direct corporate communications strategy and manage public relations and marketing communications for the rapidly-growing biotechnology company. She has more than 20 years of career experience in life sciences. She builds on her strong science base to facilitate effective communications for the biotechnology industry.

Axxam Appoints Luigi Gavazzeni as Chief Financial Officer Luigi Gavazzeni has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of Axxam. This newly-created position will be responsible for the financial management of the growing biotechnology company. His experience in the Italian biotechnology industry allows him to make considerable contribution to the strategic direction of the company. Prior to Axxam, Luigi Gavazzeni held Finance Director positions at, most recently, Bioxell SpA and before that at Novuspharma SpA. He previously successfully managed several projects for a number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry. Dr. Gavazzeni received his Degree in Engineering from the Polytechnic in Milan and subsequently obtained a certificate for “EU advanced workshop: economics and management in biotechnology companies.”

Axxam Researchers Present at the 11th SBS Conference in Geneva, Switzerland At the 11th Society of Biomedical Screening (SBS) Conference, Geneva (Switzerland), Axxam scientists made podium presentations on the following topics: Electrogenic proteins: from cell based assay generation to HTS applications”, Sabrina Corazza Comprehensive Gene Expression Profiling of GPCRs and Ion Channels”, Paola Tarroni Axxam representatives also exhibited and discussed competencies and services of the company in the trade display area at the conference.

Axxam Awarded FIT Grant for Novel Target Identification Axxam is pleased to announce the award of a grant from the Italian Ministero delle Attività; Produttive (MAP). The grant of €2.93 million will support a three year project in the field of novel target identification for pharmaceutical screening and recognizes the contribution of Axxam to Technological Innovation in the Regione Lombardia (Fondo speciale rotativo per l’Innovazione Technologica, FIT). The funding will allow Axxam scientists to apply various technology platforms with the goal to identify novel and durable targets in selected therapeutic areas, such as pain, osteoporosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/asthma. The grant consists of a non-refundable portion (40 per cent) and financing for the remaining 60 percent repayable over a 13-year period with favourable terms.

Axxam installed a new technology platform for performing robotic high throughput screening (HTS) and ultra high-throughput screening (uHTS) of chemical libraries. Axxam implemented the most advanced instrumentation (CyBiTM-Cellight (CyBio AG) and FLIPRtetraTM (Molecular Devices Corporation Inc.) in a highly integrated and centralized structure, capable of performing screening campaigns which can generate over a million test points per day. The new instrumentation operates with 384-well and 1536-well microtitre plates (MTPs) and provides a technologically advanced automated screening station integrating downstream existing platforms of bioinformatics, target biology and cellular and biochemical screening assay development.