Axcelead Drug Discovery Partners, Inc.

Overview

Axcelead Drug Discovery Partners is a contract research organization (CRO) specializing in drug discovery support services. Established in 2017 by inheriting Takeda Pharmaceutical's drug discovery research foundation, Axcelead operates as a trusted drug discovery solution provider serving diverse pharmaceutical players globally.

Services & Capabilities

Drug Discovery Platforms:

• Integrated drug discovery platform with kinase platform and drug repositioning capabilities
• Lead generation and lead optimization (LG/LO) services
• Project-based collaborative solutions

Biology & Preclinical Services:

• Model animal services: genetically modified mouse and rat creation, KI mouse/rat evaluation, chronic kidney disease models, hydrodynamics-based model animal generation
• Omics services: mechanism exploration, biomarker discovery, bioinformatics, single-cell analysis, single-nucleus analysis, spatial transcriptomics
• Nucleic acid off-target effect evaluation (comprehensive service)
• Pathology and biochemistry: pathology peer review, image analysis for efficacy evaluation, laser microdissection, spatial transcriptomics, hepatic/renal toxicity assessment from minimal samples, nucleic acid visualization, miRNA analysis

Screening & Chemistry:

• Compound management and library services
• RNA splicing-directed small molecule library
• High-throughput screening (HTS) and HT-ASMS
• Phenotypic drug discovery using iPS cells
• Medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, parallel synthesis, analytical chemistry, synthetic chemistry, flow chemistry

Drug Development:

• HT-ADMET, parenteral administration development, development candidate compound synthesis
• Modeling & simulation combined with biomarker exploration
• Drug combination analysis

Safety & Efficacy:

• In vitro toxicity screening, hERG assay, phototoxicity evaluation
• Cardiovascular safety evaluation package
• Mechanism of action (MOA) analysis for cardiovascular effects

Therapeutic Area Expertise:

• Oncology: Cancer immunotherapy drug discovery, disease mechanism research, drug combination analysis, tumor microenvironment-focused research, syngeneic transplant model mouse creation and in vivo evaluation
• Immunology: Cancer immunotherapy drug discovery, flow cytometry-enabled drug discovery
• Neurology & Muscle Disorders: In vivo evaluation of neurological and muscular disease therapeutics
• Nephrology: Chronic kidney disease drug discovery, chronic kidney disease model animals
• Metabolic Diseases: MASH and obesity therapeutic development
• Cardiovascular: Heart failure drug discovery, cardiovascular MOA analysis, echocardiography-based clinical translation

Therapeutic Modalities:

• Small molecules, protein degradation inducers, RNA modulators, peptide therapeutics, nucleic acids, regenerative medicine, mRNA therapeutics

Client Base & Performance

Axcelead serves pharmaceutical companies, biotech ventures, and academic institutions. The company reports nearly all domestic pharmaceutical companies investing in drug discovery research as clients, plus numerous global megapharma partnerships. The organization demonstrates above-industry-standard screening hit rates and project goal achievement rates, attributed to experienced researchers from pharmaceutical drug discovery backgrounds utilizing cutting-edge platforms and strong client communication practices.