Macclesfield business acquired by fellow drug discovery firm

Macclesfield based Peak Proteins has announced it has been acquired by fellow drug discovery business, Sygnature Discovery, for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition is the fourth in the last four years for the Nottingham-headquartered Sygnature Discovery, which also has a presence in Cheshire’s Alderley Park.

The buyout of Peak Proteins, based at Tytherington Business Village (pictured) in Macclesfield, follows extensive partnership with Sygnature Discovery, and will facilitate further integration of their work on protein production and related structure determination projects.

Peak Proteins was first established in 2014 by a team of scientists from AstraZeneca’s protein biochemistry and structural biology groups, and previously secured investment from Sygnature Discovery in 2016. The drug discovery business has see since grown to employ 35 staff, and will continue to operate from its Macclesfield research facility; senior leadership will also remain with the business following the acquisition.

Steve Young, Sygnature VP of business development, said:

“The Peak Proteins expertise will sit perfectly alongside our HTS and extensive biophysics capabilities. Their world class expertise in protein crystallography will enhance our fragment screening and analysis activities, as well as our structure-based drug design work.”

Mark Abbott, CEO of Peak Proteins, said:

“We have always valued Sygnature Discovery’s support and are now really pleased to be joining them. It will enable us to work more closely on integrated projects in addition to our existing client base where we provide both proteins and protein structural information on a very wide range of proteins to clients across the world.”