Overview

Founded in 1999, Astex Technology Ltd is a structure-based drug discovery company pioneering the use of high-throughput X-ray crystallography (HTX) technology for the rapid identification of novel drug candidates. The company’s technology integrates all aspects of structure-based research, including protein production, crystallization, structure determination, bioinformatics and computational and medicinal chemistry. By automating the process by which researchers image lead compounds bound to target proteins, the company has reduced the time needed to analyze ligand-protein interactions. Astex says it is “addressing the challenges set by the current 'target rich, lead poor' drug discovery environment.”

Partners

In March 2001, Astex and Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre said they formed an exclusive research collaboration for the use of CCDC's GOLD program in the development of Astex's virtual screening and docking technologies. The company has collaborations with Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen Pharmaceutica and AstraZeneca AB.