Professor Joe Harrity Joins Peakdale Molecular on a KTA Sabbatical

SHEFFIELD, England, August 5, 2011 -

Peakdale Molecular welcomes Professor Joe Harrity from the University of Sheffield who will join the company for a 15 month period on an Industrial Research Sabbatical. The aim of the sabbatical is to develop an efficient synthetic route to highly functionalised, novel boronic esters on a kilogramme scale. These compounds are amongst the most valuable synthetic intermediates in modern chemistry as they are readily transformed to a very broad range of products.

Over the past 10 years Prof. Harrity has led research to develop efficient, robust and versatile methods to prepare complex heteroaromatic compounds. This programme of research has successfully delivered a large number of highly functionalised heteroaromatic compounds on a research scale. This industrial sabbatical provides an excellent opportunity to take these discoveries from a small scale in an academic laboratory to a kilo scale through collaboration with Peakdale Molecular.

Prof. Joe Harrity said “Over the past few years, we have identified a number of methods to make novel boronic acid derivatives. The collaboration with Peakdale offers the opportunity for us to explore the real potential of commercially relevant quantities of these materials.  I believe that this will ultimately represent a successful example of how academic knowledge and discovery can be transferred to industry with tangible benefits for both sectors.”

Commenting Dr. Matt Tozer, Peakdale Director of Med. Chem. Services, said : “The combination of Prof. Harrity’s cutting-edge chemistry knowledge and Peakdale’s expertise in scale-up and commercialisation presents an exciting opportunity to gain deeper understanding of the methodology, its scope and commercial impact. Collaborations such as this between academia and CROs will be increasingly important for “UK plc” in the future and we are delighted to welcome Joe to our site in Chapel-en-le-Frith.”

This sabbatical has been funded by the University Of Sheffield EPSRC Knowledge Transfer Account (KTA). The KTA aims to overcome barriers to collaboration between universities and other public and private sector organisations, and to ensure that the outputs of EPSRC research deliver the maximum economic and societal benefit to the UK.

ABOUT PEAKDALE MOLECULAR LTD.

Peakdale Molecular headquartered in Chapel-en-le Frith, Derbyshire has been established as a provider of research services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry since 1992. In state of the art laboratories with over 90 chemists it continues to provide problem solving expertise from discovery to scale up across Europe and the USA. For more information on Peakdale Molecular, please visit www.peakdale.co.uk

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER ACCOUNT

The University of Sheffield has secured a £5.7 million Knowledge Transfer Account from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).  The EPSRC is the largest research council in the UK, supporting research and training in engineering and the physical sciences. The EPSRC has awarded twelve Knowledge Transfer Accounts (KTAs) to UK Universities.

KTAs are designed to overcome some of the barriers when working with external partners, and ensure that the outputs of EPSRC research are exploited to deliver maximum economic and societal benefit to the UK. Our KTA provides:

• Flexible support for collaborative R&D projects and researchers

• Practical help formulating projects and linking academic expertise with industrial needs

For further information, please contact:

Dr. Mick Durrant, Director  of Business Development, Peakdale Molecular Ltd, T : +44-1298-816-700

Ms. Jenny Morton, Business Development Consultant, S3 Department of Chemistry, University of Sheffield, T: +44-114-222-9563

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