MUNICH, April 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Acquisition Enhances WuXi's Structure-Based Drug Discovery Capabilities and Establishes WuXi Research Facilities within Europe 

WuXi AppTec, a leading open-access R&D capability and technology platform company serving the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries, today announced that it has acquired Crelux GmbH, a leading structure based drug discovery provider based in Munich, Germany. The addition of Crelux provides augmented scientific depth and complements existing capabilities within the WuXi structure-based drug discovery platform.

Crelux was founded in 2005 and has its laboratories at the Innovation Center for Biotechnology (IZB) in Martinsried. As a global leader in structure-based drug discovery, Crelux has been providing the drug discovery industry with highly individualized and efficient solutions to inform and accelerate their programmes for more than a decade. Crelux provides a number of customized services to support hit-finding, conformational analysis and lead optimisation, including protein production, biophysical assays, fragment screening, and X-ray crystallography.

The acquisition represents a further step in the growing European presence of WuXi AppTec and reaffirms WuXi's strong commitment to better serving and interacting with European customers. It provides a solid foundation for WuXi to expand its integrated drug discovery services within Europe.

"The addition of Crelux will enable existing and prospective clients of both WuXi and Crelux to access enhanced hit finding, hit-to-lead, and lead optimization services with greater efficiency and scientific leadership," said Dr. Steve Yang, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of WuXi AppTec. "Crelux reflects our commitment to our European clients and adds strength to our existing comprehensive drug discovery capabilities within the WuXi Research Service Division."

"Adding Crelux's expertise and technologies onto more comprehensive, integrated discovery services has always been a main strategic goal for us; with WuXi AppTec we have found the perfect match. Our combination will allow the European and global drug discovery and development industry to profit from the highest standards of service excellence and high-throughput, industrialized, processes," commented Dr. Michael Schaeffer, co-founder, Business and Strategy Executive Director of Crelux.

About WuXi AppTec 

WuXi AppTec is a leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device R&D platform company with global operations. As a research-driven and customer-focused company, WuXi AppTec provides a broad and integrated portfolio of laboratory and manufacturing services throughout the drug and medical device R&D process. WuXi AppTec's services are designed to assist its global partners in shortening the cycle and lowering the cost of drug and medical device R&D. WuXi AppTec is also building a platform to provide clinical diagnostic services directly to physicians and their patients globally. Please visit: http://www.wuxiapptec.com.

About Crelux 

CRELUX (http://www.crelux.com ) is a provider of high-quality solutions for early stage drug development. Its core expertise lies in the production of prime proteins and their use in biophysical screening and protein crystallography. The privately-owned company has established itself as a reliable premium provider for the global pharma and biotech industry. As a research partner, CRELUX contributes a portfolio of state-of-the-art hit-finding, -validation and -optimization technologies along with top-level expertise in protein biochemistry. CRELUX markets its services under several brand names: innovations for the production of challenging to get proteins and protein complexes (PRIME PROTEINS), a wide selection of therapeutically relevant target proteins for X-ray crystallography (XPRESS portfolio), customised programmes for the solution of new protein structures (XPERT/XPEDITE) and innovative technologies for fragment and compound screening and biophysical validation (INTRACT).

For further information, please contact: 

WuXi AppTec 

Aaron Shi 
Director of Corporate Communications
+86-21-5046-4362
aaron_shi@wuxiapptec.com

CRELUX 

Michael Schaeffer
Executive Director Strategy and Business
+49-89-700760-170
schaeffer@crelux.com

SOURCE Crelux GmbH