Drug Discovery & Development
(28/10/09)
Our drug discovery efforts began in 1987 with a specific focus on neurodegenerative disorders including Lou Gehrig’s, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's diseases. In 1997, the kinase-based research platform developed to work on novel targets for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases was used to initiate several research and strategic partnerships in the area of oncology.
Today, Cephalon is a leader in the discovery and development of novel kinase-based treatments for cancer.
The worldwide discovery research site is located in Pennsylvania, USA.
The new pre-clinical development centre in France
Cephalon has invested $30 million in the renovation and expansion of its state-of-the-art development centre located in Maisons-Alfort. This centre will be 40% larger and have ample laboratory space to conduct a wide variety of pre-clinical development activities to support the worldwide Cephalon programmes. Consequently, it will play a critical role in supporting drug discovery by increasing the quality of compounds moving into clinical development.
Pre-clinical development centre objectives:
- GxP capable to support worldwide development programmes
- Drug disposition
- Analytical sciences
- Centre of Excellence for drug safety
- Drug discovery support to decrease the time from discovery to development
- Pro-active support of tech transfer to Technical Operations
- Pro-active support of marketed compounds (line extensions)
- Compliance with all national and international regulations
- Processes and opportunities for franchise protection
- Support acquisition / in-licensing
- Non-clinical expertise foundation for EU business