Strategic acquisition combines Pelago Bioscience’s CETSA®-based target engagement expertise with RG Discovery’s medicinal chemistry and custom synthesis capabilities, enabling a seamless hit-to-lead and lead optimization workflow for biotech and pharmaceutical innovators.
Pelago Bioscience, a specialist drug discovery focused contract research organization (CRO), known for its industry-leading cell-based target engagement assays, is pleased to announce the acquisition of RG Discovery, and thereby adding deep expertise in medicinal chemistry, custom synthesis, and integrated drug discovery.
By combining Pelago Bioscience’s biology-focused capabilities with RG Discovery’s chemistry expertise, the enlarged platform will enable drug discovery teams to accelerate decision-making, streamline workflows, and advance programs more efficiently from hit identification through lead optimization.
“Drug discovery increasingly requires seamless integration between chemistry and biology,” said Michael Dabrowski, Chief Executive Officer of Pelago Bioscience. “By bringing RG Discovery into Pelago Bioscience, we can offer customers a single scientific partner capable of designing and synthesizing compounds, evaluating target engagement in living cells, and rapidly feeding those insights back into the next design cycle. This combination strengthens our ability to help customers progress programs faster and with greater confidence.”
Pelago Bioscience’s proprietary Cellular Thermal Shift Assay (CETSA®)-based platform provides direct insight into how compounds engage their targets in living cells — data that now can feed straight back into RG Discovery’s next round of compound design, a continuous chemistry-to-biology cycle that neither a chemistry nor pure-biology CRO can offer. Hence, the combination closes the loop between compound design, synthesis, and market leading, direct in-cell target engagement — removing the vendor handoffs that slow programs from hit to lead.
Founded in 2011 by former AstraZeneca scientists, RG Discovery has built a reputation for solving complex chemistry challenges for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The company employs approximately 40 scientists and operates from Medicon Village in Lund, Sweden, where its facilities include extensive chemistry and analytical infrastructure supporting a broad range of drug discovery activities.
“RG Discovery has always focused on helping customers solve difficult scientific problems through close collaboration and deep technical expertise,” said Johan Evenäs, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of RG Discovery. “Joining forces with Pelago Bioscience allows us to expand that impact by combining world-class chemistry with world-class target engagement science. We are excited about the opportunities this creates for both our customers and our team.”