Sygnature Discovery Completes Major Enhancement of High-Throughput Chemistry Facilities Following £1 Million Investment

Sygnature Discovery, a leading integrated drug discovery contract research organisation (CRO), today announces the completion of a major enhancement to its high-throughput chemistry (HTC) capabilities and laboratory infrastructure following a £1 million investment.

In today’s demanding drug discovery landscape, accelerating time to value inflection remains a top industry priority. Sygnature’s enhanced high-throughput chemistry (HTC) platform has now doubled its synthesis and purification capacity—delivering twice the output in the same timeframe. This upgrade empowers customers with faster access to high-quality compounds, enabling swifter decision-making and driving progress towards the clinic.

HTC platforms leverage automated systems to efficiently synthesize and purify large volumes of compounds. When integrated with Sygnature’s in-house high-throughput screening (HTS) platform—which rapidly evaluates compound libraries against biological targets—these technologies can accelerate the identification of promising drug candidates.

A cornerstone of the investment is the integration of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) into Sygnature’s HTC platform. While SFC is becoming more prevalent, few HTC platforms use SFC for purification. Sygnature now offers both reverse-phase and SFC purification options, providing unparalleled flexibility and optimal purification conditions. Despite SFC systems requiring complex infrastructure and expertise, Sygnature remains focused on delivering best-in-class solutions. 

The upgraded facilities will be fully operational from August and mark a significant milestone in Sygnature’s ongoing growth strategy.

Our successful track record over the past 20 years on client projects demonstrates our ability to validate robust syntheses and utilize automated processes to deliver high-quality science quickly and efficiently.

This investment in our capabilities further enhances the value for our customers and reinforces our commitment to delivering cutting-edge services. Our customers want to partner with a CRO that will help them hit their milestones. This expansion proves we are that partner. We have the facilities, flexibility, and scientific excellence to deliver.

Geraint Jones, Director of Chemistry at Sygnature Discovery, commented: “Our successful track record over the past 20 years on client projects demonstrates our ability to validate robust syntheses and utilize automated processes to deliver high-quality science quickly and efficiently.”

“This investment in our capabilities further enhances the value for our customers and reinforces our commitment to delivering cutting-edge services. Our customers want to partner with a CRO that will help them hit their milestones. This expansion proves we are that partner. We have the facilities, flexibility, and scientific excellence to deliver.”

About Sygnature Discovery

Sygnature Discovery is a world-leading integrated drug discovery contract research organization based in the UK and Canada with headquarters in Nottingham (UK). Additional sites are located in Alderley Park, Macclesfield, and Glasgow (UK), as well as Montreal and Quebec City (Canada). Its team of over 1,000 employees, which includes 900 scientists, partners with global biotech, pharma and NFP organizations. Since 2011, Sygnature Discovery has delivered 56 novel pre-clinical and 35 clinical compounds, with its scientists named on over 235 patents. Therapeutic areas of expertise include oncology, inflammation and immunology, neuroscience, metabolic diseases, infectious diseases, fibrotic diseases, and more.