CRO Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories Partners With Crown Bioscience
By Cyndi Root
Crown Bioscience announced in a press release that it has entered a strategic partnership with Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories (SNBL), a Japanese contract research organization (CRO). The initial focus of the undertaking is for SNBL to promote Crown’s services to its Japanese clients. In return for promoting Crown’s collection of patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, SNBL will have exclusive rights to market those products, increasing its own service offerings.
Jean-Pierre Wery, President of Crown said, “It is the first time that SNBL has agreed to represent an overseas company in such a deal. We are delighted to be partnering with the largest preclinical contract research organization in Japan as part of our international business strategy to develop our services in the Far East.”
Strategic Partnership
The new partnership with SNBL extends Crown’s footprint in a strategically important market. The move is an important next step for the company following its expansion to Europe with the PRECOS Ltd acquisition in 2013. SNBL’s approach is also global in scope, with facilities across Japan, the U.S., China, and Cambodia. The partnership offers each exposure to the other’s target audience and offers significant development potential to both.
Both companies intend to leverage their existing expertise and products and co-develop new offerings. Initially, the two will work together on Crown’s patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. Ryoichi Nagata, CEO and President of SNBL said that his company offers its clients fast and precise results from discovery to late-stage clinical trials and the partnership with Crown will enable the company to strengthen service offerings and collaborate on new projects. He added that SBNL’s strength in preclinical development complements Crown’s existing services.
Crown’s Patient-Derived Xenograft (PDX) Models
SBNL and Crown will collaborate first on Crown’s patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. In pre-clinical development, using animals to test pharmaceuticals has limited efficiency as animals are poor predictors of human biology. Crown has developed tumor tissue for testing, in an effort to accelerate the development process and improve biomarker identification.