STORY UPDATE
ALBANY, N.Y.—March 1, 2006—Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI) announced the successful completion of its acquisition of Budapest-based ComGenex, giving the American company a solid position within the European market. When coupled with its operations in the United States and Asia, the new location allows AMRI another hub from which to offer its services and products.
ALBANY, N.Y.—Albany Molecular Research Inc. has signed a stock purchase agreement to acquire ComGenex, a privately held drug discovery service company in Budapest, Hungary, with 119 employees and facilities totaling 30,000 square feet.
Founded in 1992, ComGenex provides contract chemistry services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. One of the company's notable technologies is one that integrates parallel synthesis with computational chemistry to create unique small molecules with drug-like characteristics. The company has also developed novel applications in the areas of chemical genomics and target identification. In 2005, ComGenex generated approximately $8.5 million in contract revenue.
"The acquisition of ComGenex further expands AMRI's global chemistry services platform," notes Dr. Thomas E. D'Ambra, Albany's chairman, president and CEO. "Very importantly, this combination creates an immediate presence in Europe in a EU member state with a significantly lower cost structure than Western European countries, while maintaining access to a comparable talent pool not only in Hungary, but all of Europe and neighboring regions."
This European presence will broaden AMRI's customer base and gives the company immediate relationships with, or access to, pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers in England and the European continent, which up until now have not accounted for major discovery or development and small-scale chemistry services revenue, D'Ambra adds.
