BioFocus plc announced today that it has signed a major international collaboration with Aventis Cropscience to design and supply compounds for Aventis' R&D programmes. BioFocus will take over a modern self-contained unit of approximately 20,000 sq ft. of chemistry laboratories at Chesterford Park, Cambridge, England to carry out this work and to provide capacity for further expansion.

Under the collaboration BioFocus will provide Aventis with a flexible chemistry resource for its
ongoing agrochemical research projects. BioFocus will gain additional high quality facilities to
complement its existing laboratories at its headquarters in Sittingbourne.

Dr. David Stone, BioFocus' Chief Executive, said, "This new agreement offers another significant
extension of our company's turnover and profitability. There is excellent synergy between Aventis'
highly skilled scientists and our own successful team; we intend to build further on this in the months ahead.''

Since the launch of BioFocus three years ago, the UK based company has successfully entered into a number of agreements with a wide range of companies in Europe, the USA and Japan. The company provides integrated chemistry services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agrochemical industries, specialising in high quality lead generation and lead optimisation solutions. It has expertise in medicinal, combinatorial and computational chemistry and broad-based industry experience covering a wide range of therapeutic areas. As a result of this expansion BioFocus now employs in excess of 60 people, of whom over one-third are qualified to PhD level. 

Company news release
N2579