BioCentury
ARTICLE | Emerging Company Profile

Synergix: Searching with software

February 12, 2001 8:00 AM UTC

Synergix Inc. sees the dilemma of genome-driven target overload as an opportunity to apply its rational drug design technology to rapidly create and optimize leads in a cost-effective manner.

Founded in 1996, Synergix evolved out of the work of founder and CEO Claude Cohen, who honed the technology for molecular modeling and drug design at Hoechst-Roussel-Uclaf-Marion and Ciba-Geigy Ltd., now Aventis S.A. (AVE, Strasbourg, France), and Novartis AG (NVS; SWX:NOVN, Basel, Switzerland), respectively. At Ciba-Geigy, Cohen's group was involved in the discovery of several compounds, including Diovan valsartan, a small molecule angiotensin II receptor blocker. Diovan, which was launched in 1996 for hypertension, had sales of $500 million in 1999...