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Advancing Fragment-Based Lead Generation Through Integrated Expertise

Advancing Fragment-Based Lead Generation Through Integrated Expertise

A fully integrated, end-to-end workflow for fragment-based lead generation —seamlessly combining leading expertise in biophysics, cell biology, structural biology, and medicinal chemistry to accelerate lead generation.

2bind – biophysical screening & profiling
Arctoris – biochemistry & cell biology
CrystalsFirst – high-performance crystallography
SpiroChem – medicinal & synthetic chemistry

By leveraging complementary expertise, we provide a rigorous and data-driven approach to identifying and advancing high-quality lead candidates. This integrated platform streamlines the transition from drug targets to validated leads, reducing risk and increasing efficiency.

Get in touch to advance and accelerate your drug discovery campaigns.

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CrystalsFirst Scales Operations with Cutting-Edge Lab Infrastructure Upgrade

CrystalsFirst Scales Operations with Cutting-Edge Lab Infrastructure Upgrade

Hamburg, Germany – February 20, 2025 – CrystalsFirst, a leading provider of advanced structural biology solutions and AI-driven drug discovery, is pleased to announce a multi-million-euro expansion of its laboratory infrastructure and technological capabilities. This strategic initiative will significantly enhance the company’s ability to scale its MAGNET platform, which integrates proprietary SmartSoak® technology with an in-house developed generative AI framework, FragAI, to unlock therapeutic potential for drug targets.

Leveraging its strong financial position, CrystalsFirst is committed to advancing its mission of accelerating drug discovery by unlocking novel chemical matter. With 40+ successful collaborations with leading biotech companies, this expansion will further strengthen its ability to deliver cutting-edge solutions for the drug discovery industry.

“This investment underscores our dedication to pushing the boundaries of structural biology and structurally-enabled drug discovery,” said Dr. Serghei Glinca, CEO of CrystalsFirst. “By enhancing our facilities and technological capabilities, we aim to provide even greater value to our partners and accelerate the development of innovative medicines.”

At its new premises in Hamburg, CrystalsFirst is significantly expanding its operations to foster greater synergy. Operations at the site are set to begin in Q2 2025, marking a major milestone in CrystalsFirst’s growth and ongoing commitment to transforming early-stage drug discovery. 

 

Media Contact

Dr. Serghei Glinca

CEO, CrystalsFirst GmbH

 serghei.glinca@crystalsfirst.com

+49 6421 968814-0

 

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding CrystalsFirst’s expansion plans and anticipated benefits. Actual results may vary due to various factors. CrystalsFirst assumes no obligation to update these statements.

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CrystalsFirst Recognized by Fierce Biotech as a Top CRO for Innovative Solutions in Drug Development

CrystalsFirst Recognized by Fierce Biotech as a Top CRO for Innovative Solutions in Drug Development

CrystalsFirst is setting new standards as one of the best CROs in the field for Innovative Solutions in Drug Development. Recognized by Fierce Biotech for its pioneering achievements, CrystalsFirst is transforming drug discovery through its advanced MAGNET platform. This platform demonstrates the company’s commitment to excellence, combining breakthrough technologies and deep expertise to address some of the most complex challenges in drug design.

Key achievements of the MAGNET platform include:

  • Target Enablement: Successfully enabling over 40 drug targets, broadening therapeutic possibilities and pushing the frontiers of drug discovery.
  • SmartSoak® Technology: Accelerating the path to co-structures, significantly reducing the time required for target validation.
  • FragAI for Molecular Design: Leveraging proprietary generative AI to design and optimize molecular structures, enhancing both efficiency and precision in the early stages of drug discovery.

These advancements underscore CrystalsFirst’s commitment to redefining industry standards and accelerating the drug discovery process with next-generation technologies. This recognition from Fierce Biotech reinforces CrystalsFirst’s role as a leader in innovative drug discovery solutions, positioning the company at the forefront of the industry.

With a focus on the future, CrystalsFirst aims to further expand its pioneering work by advancing into targeted protein degradation and, more broadly, proximity-induced modalities. This new direction reflects CrystalsFirst’s commitment to evolving with cutting-edge science and applying innovative approaches shaping the industry.

2024 Fierce CRO Awards Finalists

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CrystalsFirst is joining the PROXIDRUGS consortium

CrystalsFirst is joining the PROXIDRUGS consortium

CrystalsFirst is thrilled to announce its joining of the PROXIDRUGS consortium, a groundbreaking initiative focused on developing innovative proximity-inducing drugs to target disease-causing proteins.

By joining PROXIDRUGS, CrystalsFirst aligns itself with a visionary project that spans the entire preclinical drug development pipeline. This collaboration promises to accelerate the translation of cutting-edge research into tangible therapeutic solutions, potentially transforming patient outcomes across multiple disease areas.

PROXIDRUGS is at the forefront of a revolutionary approach to drug discovery. This consortium brings together leading experts to create better therapies for a wide range of diseases, including cancer, inflammatory disorders, infectious diseases, and neurodegenerative conditions.

The core of PROXIDRUGS’ strategy lies in proximity-based pharmaceuticals, a novel class of drugs with the potential to degrade approximately 80% of disease-relevant proteins. This approach opens up new possibilities for treating conditions that have long eluded effective therapies.

We look forward to contributing our expertise to this consortium and working alongside academic and industry partners to push the boundaries of drug discovery. Together, we aim to unlock new paradigms in personalized medicine and address critical unmet medical needs.

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The SMARTSOAK® Advantage for E3 Ligases

THE SMARTSOAK® ADVANTAGE FOR E3 LIGASES

SmartSoak® provides significant advantages for hit identification of novel binders and recruiters for E3 ligases. 

    • Track record in the E3 ligase space
    • Ready to screen high-quality proteins for structural biology, e.g. VHL/VCB
    • Screening covalent and non-covalent libraries
    • Machine learning platform for fragment evolution
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Computational Modeling Drives Selectivity of CRL4 CRBN Recruiting Protacs

COMPUTATIONAL MODELING DRIVES SELECTIVITY OF CRL4 CRBN RECRUITING PROTACs

  • Selectivity is still a major challenge in the design of CRL4CRBN recruiting PROTACs. 
  • Prediction of key interactions mediating the formation of productive ternary complexes can overcome the selectivity issues. 
  • Using structural insights from known neo-substrates, degron blocking design principles, and computational modelling lead to an analogue with an improved selectivity profile. 
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CrystalsFirst announces its generative AI extension – FragAI -as part of the MAGNET platform. 

CrystalsFirst announces its generative AI extension - FragAI - as part of the MAGNET platform.

CrystalsFirst’s MAGNET platform overcomes current limitations of small molecule drug discovery. Our proprietary technology SmartSoak® detects molecular magnets and generative AI identifies novel molecules and druggable binding pockets. 

Applications and features of FragAI: 

  • Intellectual Property shield and protection
  • Ligand- and structure-based workflows
  • Fragment evolution for FBDD
  • Hit-to-lead and lead optimization tailoring the target product profile
  • Compatible with X-ray crystallography and CryoEM derived structures
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The SMARTSOAK® Advantage for Covalent Drug Discovery

THE SMARTSOAK® ADVANTAGE FOR COVALENT DRUG DISCOVERY

SmartSoak® provides significant advantages for for covalent fragment-based drug discovery enabling rapid determination of co-structures for optimization: 

  • Conventional soaking fails to modify the cysteine in the active site
  • SmartSoak setup enables the covalent modification of cysteine
  • High resolution co-structure of human protein with novel MOA at 1.3 Å
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This year, we celebrate a significant achievement as CrystalsFirst reaches its 5th Anniversary! 

This year, we celebrate a significant achievement as CrystalsFirst reaches its 5th Anniversary!

For the past five years, CrystalsFirst has been leading the way in pushing the boundaries of structural biology and drug discovery. Our relentless dedication to innovation and outstanding performance has positioned us as a pivotal figure in the field of drug discovery, establishing groundbreaking benchmarks for drug discovery.

We are proud to report our remarkable achievements over the past five years:

  • integrated target-to-hit platform “putting structural data first”
  • unlocking chemical matter for difficult targets
  • solutions for covalent and non-covalent drug discovery
  • machine learning platform 
  • more to come…
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CRYSTALSFIRST and NEXMR Join Forces to Supercharge Fragment-Based Drug Discovery

CRYSTALSFIRST AND NEXMR JOIN FORCES TO SUPERCHARGE FRAGMENT-BASED DRUG DISCOVERY

24th July 2023 – CrystalsFirst GmbH, a leading provider of innovative crystallography solutions, and NexMR GmbH, a technology company specializing in high-performance Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), are thrilled to announce their strategic collaboration. This partnership aims to redefine the field of fragment-based drug discovery by combining CrystalsFirst’s expertise in crystallography and NexMR’s cutting-edge NMR, ultimately providing better solutions for drug discovery.

Fragment-based drug discovery is a powerful approach that enables the identification of high-quality lead compounds with improved drug-like properties. By utilizing small fragments of molecules, researchers can explore a vast chemical space and optimize the fragments to develop highly potent and selective drugs. However, the success of fragment-based drug discovery heavily relies on efficient fragment screening and accurate structural determination of the protein-fragment complexes.

CrystalsFirst has established itself as a pioneer in crystallography, offering leading technologies and services for protein crystallization and structure determination using its proprietary SmartSoak® technology. Their expertise in obtaining high-quality chemical matter has contributed to numerous breakthroughs in drug discovery projects. By partnering with NexMR, a company known for its innovative solutions in fragment screening, the collaboration will combine their respective strengths to tackle the challenges associated with fragment-based drug discovery.

NexMR’s advanced technologies enable rapid and efficient fragment screening, utilizing advanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Their unique platform allows for the identification and characterization of fragment hits, facilitating the selection of the most promising candidates for further development. By integrating NexMR’s fragment screening capabilities with CrystalsFirst’s expertise in protein crystallography, researchers will have access to a comprehensive suite of tools and services for fragment-based drug discovery campaigns.

“We are excited to partner with NexMR to enhance our capabilities in hit identification,” said Dr. Serghei Glinca, CEO of CrystalsFirst. “This collaboration allows us to provide our clients with a more holistic approach, combining cutting-edge fragment screening technologies with our world-class protein crystallography expertise. Together, we aim to accelerate the discovery of novel therapeutics.”

“We are delighted to join forces with CrystalsFirst,” added Dr. Félix Torres Hubiche, CEO of NexMR. “By integrating our fragment screening technologies with CrystalsFirst’s exceptional crystallography capabilities, we aim to deliver a streamlined and comprehensive solution for fragment-based drug discovery. This collaboration holds great promise in unlocking new chemical matter for the development of life-changing medicines.”

CrystalsFirst and NexMR are committed to driving innovation and advancing the field of fragment-based drug discovery. Through their collaboration, they aim to empower biopharmaceutical research worldwide with cutting-edge tools, expertise, and services that will accelerate the development of novel therapeutics for a wide range of diseases.

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