Certara, a Princeton-based drug developer, announced on Tuesday it has acquired a range of modeling and simulation technology assets from In Silico Biosciences Inc.
The assets include a platform of multiple integrated quantitative system pharmacology or QSP, modules of the brain and pathology developed for the study of neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease.
“While scientific understanding of the brain has greatly increased, that knowledge has yet to deliver meaningful advances in pharmacological solutions for most neurodegenerative diseases,” Dr. Piet van der Graaf, senior vice president of QSP at Certara, said. “We are excited and confident that these newly-acquired assets, along with the appointment of former In Silico Biosciences chief scientist Dr. Hugo Geerts as leader of Certara’s neuroscience team, will enable us to overcome the scientific challenges in this important therapeutic area and help bring efficacious therapies to patients.”
Geerts will head a new Certara QSP consortium this year, focused on neurodegenerative diseases.
“Neurodegenerative disorders involve dysregulation in multiple biochemical pathways, so successful therapies must address all those pathways, focusing on different targets in the brain,” Geerts said. “QSP is a transformative technology that combines computational and experimental methods to elucidate, validate and apply new pharmacological concepts to determine the mechanisms of action of new and existing drugs in preclinical and animal models and in patients. It is the right technology at the right time for neurodegenerative disease drug development.”
