Management buyout for Graffinity at Santhera
Santhera Pharmaceuticals, a Swiss company with a focus on neuromuscular diseases, has completed a management buyout of its Graffinity technology business unit, a part of its German subsidiary.
Santhera Pharmaceuticals, a Swiss company with a focus on neuromuscular diseases, has completed a management buyout of its Graffinity technology business unit, a part of its German subsidiary.
Graffinity will now operate as an independent company offering drug discovery services and collaborations based on its proprietary small molecule fragment-based screening technology RAISE (Rapid Affinity Instructed Structural Evolution).
Santhera, which was formed in 2004 through the merger of MyoContract and Graffinity Pharmaceuticals, retains access to Graffinity's technology as well as a profit interest in the new business. The business will be headed by Dr Kristina Schmidt, former general manager and executive board member of Santhera's German subsidiary.
Santhera ceo, Dr Klaus Schollmeier said: 'The Graffinity technology is capable of operating at a scale that Santhera cannot fully exploit on its own for in-house development and has already proved capable of attracting high profile partners. Dr Schmidt's management buyout team and Santhera both feel the time is right to launch a new Graffinity as a standalone drug discovery business.'