Sygnature Discovery Ltd acquires leading Canadian CRO

The purchase of NuChem Sciences for an undisclosed sum is the third in a series of acquisitions in sixteen months as part of Sygnature’s global expansion, which follows what Sygnature Discovery said was a “significant investment” from Five Arrows in the summer of 2021. Previous acquisitions include Peak Proteins in April 2022 and SB Drug Discovery in January 2023. According to the UK-based drug discovery specialist, the transaction gives Sygnature a significant competitive advantage as it expands the company’s services to North America, its most important biotechnology market.

NuChem Sciences employs more than 300 people at centres of excellence in Montreal and Quebec City, where it will continue to operate and drive further market expansion in North America. Founded in 2011, the Canadian CRO provides research solutions in medicinal, synthetic, scale-up, process and computational chemistry, as well as DMPK, in vitro biology and in vivo pharmacology. In addition, the company offers protein chemistry services and provides key structural biology expertise to global biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the early stages of drug discovery.

Following this acquisition, Sygnature Discovery will employ more than 1,000 people from 53 countries, including more than 900 scientists working on drug discovery programmes for biopharma developers. Founded in 2004, the company has successfully advanced over 40 novel drug candidates into preclinical development and 22 into clinical trials, and its scientists are named in over 170 patent applications.