Tripos to sell drug discovery business

USA firm Tripos Inc has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its UK-based discovery research business to Provid Phamaceuticals, a New Jersey-based drug discovery company, for around $2.0 million. This sale, expected to close in the first quarter of 2007, was contemplated in Tripos' recently-announced agreement to sell its discovery informatics business to San Francisco, USA-based Vector Capital.

The discovery informatics and discovery research businesses will operate, following their respective sales, as independent, private companies committed to providing superior services to their current and prospective customers.

Provid is a drug discovery service company engaged in the design, identification and optimization of novel lead compounds for pharmaceutical development. The company provides expert medicinal chemistry research services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.