SNBL to promote Crown Bioscience services to Japanese clients

Initial focus in the deal for SNBL is to promote Crown Bioscience services to its Japanese clients, in doing so extending SNBL’s service offering.

Under the deal, SNBL will be the exclusive representative for Crown in promoting the latter’s translational science services including the collection of Patient Derived Xenograft (PDX) models.

The deal will further expand Crown’s international footprint following its move into Europe with the acquisition of Precos in July 2013.

SNBL has multiple facilities across Japan, the US, China, and Cambodia and as such offers Crown access to a global target audience.

Crown provides oncology services, with a global footprint spanning three major continents in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, Japan is seen as a market with significant further potential.

Crown president Jean-Pierre Wery said the strategic partnership offers the company an excellent opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the Japanese market in order to further develop unique cutting-edge models.

"It is the first time that SNBL has agreed to represent an overseas company in such a deal," Wery said.

"We are delighted to be partnering with the largest preclinical contract research organization in Japan as part of our international business strategy to develop our services in the Far East."

SNBL president and CEO Ryoichi Nagata said the company is committed to providing its customers with fast and precise results across the entire drug development spectrum, from early discovery research to late-stage clinical trials.

"This unique partnership with Crown will enable us to strengthen our service offering, and also to collaborate on a variety of pre-clinical projects, utilizing unique clinically relevant models, with a shared goal of improving patient care and treatment outcomes," Nagata said.

"Our expertise in preclinical development provides a perfect complement to Crown’s existing global services."