InPharmatica

About InPharmatica

Inpharmatica was a bioinformatics company founded in 1998 as a spin-out from University College London by David Jones and Mark Swindells. The firm specialized in using predictive informatics and chemogenomics to improve the productivity of drug discovery for the pharmaceutical industry.

The company developed two main proprietary technology platforms: Chematica™ and Admensa Interactive™. Chematica™ was a knowledge-based chemogenomics platform used for target selection, druggability assessment, and identifying hits and leads. Admensa™ was a comprehensive service for ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) optimization, providing in silico and in vitro assessments to select compounds with a favorable balance of drug-like properties. These technologies integrated biology and chemistry-based discovery activities, spanning from gene analysis to candidate selection. Inpharmatica served major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Pfizer, GSK, Sanofi-Aventis, and Serono, through tailored research collaborations, services, and technology licensing.

The business model involved both providing its platforms as a service and using its technology for in-house drug discovery programs, such as a PPAR-delta program for obesity and diabetes. The company secured significant funding from institutional investors, including Abingworth, 3i Group, and Advent Venture Partners. On December 6, 2006, Inpharmatica announced it was being acquired by the Belgian-Dutch pharmaceutical research company Galapagos NV in an all-share transaction. Inpharmatica was subsequently integrated into Galapagos's service division, BioFocus DPI, to enhance its drug discovery services.