Oss, the Netherlands and Mannheim, Germany – 21 February 2022
PPSC and CeMOS have formed a strategic partnership to provide industry-leading joint early drug discovery services, with an emphasis on label-free “cell-based” target-centric, phenotypic, and functional MALDI MS assays for ultra-High-Throughput Screening (uHTS), hit-to-lead biological profiling and in-vitro DMPK/ADME-T. The recent successful industrialization of conventional biochemical Mass Spectrometry (MS) uHTS assays for various target classes and several large-scale uHTS campaigns at PPSC, along with a decade of cellular MS assay development experience at CeMOS with broad applications for uHTS of large compound collections and medium throughput hit-to-lead & in-vitro DMPK/ADME-T biological profiling, as recently summarized in Unger M.S., et al. Nature Protocols 16, 5533–5558 (2021) supports a strategic shift towards cost-effective cell-based MS technologies in miniaturized formats to deliver de-risked chemical starting points for difficult-to-assay targets, signaling pathways and phenotypes in complex in-vitro disease models to accelerate lead discovery.
Mathias Hafner, Vice President of Research, Mannheim University of Applied Sciences – “We are very happy that our flagship research and transfer center CeMOS can contribute to the important search for so urgently needed new medical options. “
Brigitte Drees, CEO, PPSC – “With the unique partnership between PPSC – CeMOS, we are able to accelerate the early drug discovery of potential future medicines.”
Carsten Hopf, Head of CeMOS at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences – “The strong partnership with Pivot Park Screening Centre offers a unique opportunity to take MALDI mass spectrometry cell assays pioneered at CeMOS to industrial scale.”
Saman Honarnejad, CSO, PPSC – “This partnership addresses the increasing market demand for cellular and phenotypic label-free MS-based screening method development. Our joint capabilities as we have assembled them in this strategic partnership, creates a highly differentiated and competitive label-free service portfolio for our clients across the globe to accelerate the discovery of new medicines.”
Pivot Park Screening Centre (PPSC) in Oss, the Netherlands was established in 2012 as a spin-off Contract Research Organization (CRO) from former Organon/MSD screening unit. PPSC specializes in early drug discovery services in the fields of assay development, lab automation, ultra-High-Throughput Screening (uHTS) and hit-to-lead biological profiling to find novel leads for drug development. PPSC continuously expands its early drug discovery know-how, compound library and services to add value to our vibrant client network and the pharmaceutical R&D community.
The Center Mass Spectrometry and Optical Spectroscopy (CeMOS) in Mannheim, Germany is engaged in the development and automation of prototype cellular MALDI mass spectrometry (MS) test systems with applications across various stages of drug discovery. Over the last decade, CeMOS has pioneered a series of MALDI-TOF MS mechanistic and phenotypic cellular assays amenable to biomarker discovery, HTS, H2L and DMPK. The technological leadership of CeMOS in the fields of mass spectrometry, Raman, mid-infrared, UV, VIS, and fluorescence measurement techniques, as well as the possibilities of AI-supported image-based presentation and calculation of the results, creates a unique synergy with PPSC for joint drug discovery services.
