Albany Molecular agrees to purchase Hungarian drug research company

By Ted A. Knutson

Washington, Jan. 30 - Albany Molecular Research, Inc. announced Monday it has agreed to acquire ComGenex, a privately held drug discovery service company in Budapest, Hungary. The sales price was not disclosed.

ComGenex provides contract chemistry services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and possesses unique technologies for the rational design of chemical libraries for lead generation. Specifically, the company integrates parallel synthesis with computational chemistry to create unique small molecules with drug-like characteristics.

The company has also developed novel applications in the areas of chemical genomics and target identification.

ComGenex and its subsidiaries have 119 employees, including 88 scientific and technical staff.

In 2005, ComGenex generated about $8.5 million in contract revenue.

"The acquisition of ComGenex further expands [Albany Molecular Research's global chemistry services platform. Very importantly, this combination creates an immediate presence in Europe in an E.U. member state with a significantly lower cost structure than Western European countries, while maintaining access to a comparable talent pool not only in Hungary, but all of Europe and neighboring regions," said Albany Molecular Research chairman, president and chief executive officer Thomas E. D'Ambra in a news release.

"ComGenex broadens AMRI's customer base and gives us immediate relationships or access to pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers in England and the European continent, which up until now have not accounted for major discovery or development and small scale chemistry services revenue."

Subject to customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter.

The acquisition is expected to be neutral to Albany Molecular's earnings per share in 2006 and accretive beginning in 2007, the company said.

Albany, N.Y.-based Albany Molecular Research is a global drug discovery company that provides chemistry services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.