Astex Technology Ltd.

The focus of start-up Astex Technology Ltd. , which aims to improve the efficiency of protein X-ray crystallography, reflects the practical experience of its founders in trying to accelerate the development of pharmaceutical compounds. For eight years, Astex co-founder Harren Jhoti, PhD was head of Structural Biology at Glaxo Wellcome PLC as well as head of UK bioinformatics. He perceives two large potential markets for the Astex technology. X-ray crystallography can be used as a target-discovery tool, and, also in drug discovery, to optimize ligand-protein interactions. Astex will introduce tools for the latter market, because "the technology is most needed where the compounds are," Jhoti says.

The company's goal is to develop methods for high-throughput X-ray crystallography. Academic centers attempting to increase output by dedicating massive numbers of conventional machines and researchers to the task tend...