Oncodesign Services and Nexus BioQuest have formed a partnership combining human-relevant in vitro immunology with in vivo pharmacology to support biotech companies progressing preclinical drug development programmes.
The collaboration, the pair said, is intended to provide smaller biotech teams with access to specialist CRO expertise as their scientific requirements change throughout drug discovery.
French CRO Oncodesign Services brings more than three decades of experience in in vivo pharmacology, with capabilities spanning oncology, inflammation, autoimmunity and radiopharmaceutical research.
Its preclinical offering includes syngeneic, patient-derived xenograft (PDX), cell-derived xenograft (CDX) and humanised immune system models, alongside inflammatory disease models and preclinical imaging.
UK-based Nexus BioQuest specialises in translational immunology and human primary cell-based assays.
Its services include bespoke assay development and 2D and 3D models for immuno-oncology, inflammation and autoimmune disease research.
Under the new partnership, biotechs can involve either organisation depending on the scientific question being addressed, while also having the option to bring both teams into discussions around preclinical study design.
The companies said this could be particularly relevant for smaller organisations with limited internal scientific resources, where access to specialist expertise may need to change as a programme moves from early discovery towards more advanced preclinical studies.
Endometriosis has been identified as a proof-of-concept area for the collaboration.
Nexus BioQuest’s primary cell inflammatory models can be used alongside Oncodesign Services’ in vivo endometriosis models to investigate endpoints including lesion development, fibrosis and inflammatory responses.
Aidan Synnott, CEO of Oncodesign Services, said the partnership was intended to help biotech companies identify appropriate specialist expertise without having to search for new providers as their programmes evolve.
“For biotech teams, the challenge is often not finding another CRO, but finding the right expertise for the scientific question they need to answer next."
Our goal is to help minimise the uncertainty and risk that go hand-in-hand with limited funds and timelines.
Will Parish, CEO of Nexus BioQuest, added that drug discovery often requires researchers to move between different experimental systems, with in vitro models providing human-relevant mechanistic insight and in vivo studies offering additional evidence in whole-organism disease models.
Having access to trusted specialist expertise in both areas gives biotech teams a clearer route to the support they need at different points in preclinical development, helping them make more informed decisions about where to place their work.
The partnership builds on broader efforts by both companies to expand their specialist preclinical capabilities.
Oncodesign Services extended its collaboration with GIP ARRONAX in April 2026 to secure access to astatine-211 and other radionuclides for targeted radiotherapy discovery and preclinical programmes.
Nexus BioQuest has also expanded its immunology-focused CRO offering, with recent work including 3D tumour models for immune screening and studies designed to support regulatory submissions such as IND applications.
