Cancer screening spin-out wins pharma contract
Prescos, a spin-out from the University of Nottingham, has secured a contract with Belgian pharmaceutical company Janssen Pharmaceutica. The company provides services that allow drugs to be screened early in the research process for anti-cancer activity. Major pharmaceutical companies can then identify those that are potentially beneficial.
Prescos, or Pre-Clinical Oncology Services, was launched as a specialist business unit at the university in 2004. It evolved from the division of pre-clinical oncology and is led by professor Sue Watson. The company has collaborated with pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the UK, Europe, US and Japan. Neil Rotherham, the former managing director of clinical technology business ClinPhone, was recently named chairman.
Janssen Pharmaceutica has also entered into a research contract with the university to conduct research under the newly established Ex Vivo Cancer Pharmacology Centre of Excellence. This research funding will allow the university to continue its work in the development of sophisticated cancer models to examine potential drugs for anti-cancer activity. Ex vivo refers to experiments done outside the living body.
