The story
Astex was founded as "Astex Technology Limited" in 1999 in Cambridge, UK, to pioneer a novel approach to small molecule drug discovery known as ‘fragment-based drug discovery’ (FBDD), a term first coined by Astex scientists that is now a well recognized approach to small molecule drug discovery across the pharmaceutical industry. Astex's proprietary drug discovery platform, Pyramid, can effectively identify novel small molecule drugs for key disease targets. Originally funded by venture capital, from a number of investors including Abingworth, Advent international, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Apax Partners and Gimv. Astex established strategic partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies including Novartis, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline.
In 2005, the company changed its name to Astex Therapeutics Limited when its first product entered clinical development. In 2011, Astex Therapeutics Limited and SuperGen, Inc. (US) merged. Following the acquisition, SuperGen, Inc. changed its name to Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and began trading under the ticker symbol ASTX on NASDAQ. The combined Astex entities were subsequently acquired by Otsuka Pharmaceutical in October 2013 for around US$900 million. On 1 January 2024, as part of an internal re-organization to consolidate oncology clinical development within the Otsuka group, Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., became part of Taiho Oncology, Inc. This internal reorganization did not impact the drug discovery research operation of Astex Pharmaceuticals (UK), based in Cambridge, UK, which continues to operate independently as ‘Astex’.
From Wikipedia’s article on Astex Pharmaceuticals, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5