Integrated drug discovery and pre-clinical solutions provider, Sygnature Discovery, has appointed Dr. David Lustig to the role of Vice President Business Development - United States. Dr. Lustig will play a crucial role in the company’s US expansion, following the opening of Sygnature’s second US office at Oyster Point, South San Francisco in April.

A significant part of Sygnature’s customer base is already located in North America, ranging from major pharma through to small seed-funded biotechs, based all across the US and over the border in Canada. Facing growing demand from the US market over recent years, the company’s appointment of Dr. Lustig and the recent opening of a west coast office aim to establish a stronger presence that can better service both existing and future customers.

Dr. Lustig received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Michigan, and has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry at Syntex, Roche, CV Therapeutics, Optivia Biotechnology and Aptuit, spanning scientific, business development, licensing, commercialization and executive roles. David founded and led 2 companies and has a successful track record of bringing projects from concept to the market at 3 start-ups.

“I’m very excited about the future with Sygnature, and there is so much growth potential for us in the US market,” said Dr. Lustig. “I have been a customer of drug discovery services myself, and I can say there are few companies out there with such a comprehensive integrated offering, that can take a project all the way from target to IND candidate, headed by teams of truly accomplished drug hunters.

“Many organizations still piecemeal out the different stages of the drug discovery journey to CROs across the world, but partnering with Sygnature means that our experienced scientists become part of the project’s discovery team, solving problems, pushing things forward, and more importantly coming up with a candidate that will have legs in the clinic. That’s an easy product to get behind. Now, my mission is to make sure that companies in the US are served with the breadth and quality of our incredible offering.”

Dr. Paul Overton, Chief Commercial Officer at Sygnature, added: “David has been on both sides of the table, delivering drug discovery services himself, as well as outsourcing integrated projects to CROs. His passion for integrated drug discovery and his deep knowledge of the pharmaceutical R&D space make him the ideal candidate to develop relationships with companies in the US, advising potential customers on the value creation of working with a truly integrated discovery partner.”

Sygnature Discovery offers high-quality, fully integrated drug discovery and pre-clinical services to customers around the world, as well as flexible, stand-alone solutions in medicinal chemistry, in vitro biology, computational chemistry, DMPK and pre-clinical experimental services.

About Sygnature Discovery
Sygnature Discovery is a leading independent integrated drug discovery and non-clinical services company. Private equity-backed since 2017, the company operates fully enabled research facilities in Nottingham and Alderley Park, UK, housing nearly 400 research scientists (over 80% of whom hold a PhD), and has an office presence in Cambridge, MA, and South San Francisco, CA, in the USA.

Their experienced drug-hunters possess all the professional skills and know-how required to undertake the most demanding of research programs, and drive them from target validation through hit identification, hit-to-lead and lead optimization to pre-clinical development candidate. Sygnature’s in vivo pharmacology arm was formed by the incorporation of RenaSci, acquired in 2018, into Sygnature’s fully integrated drug discovery platform. In 2020 Sygnature added to this with the acquisitions of in vivo oncology firm Alderley Oncology and DMPK provider XenoGesis.

Since 2011, 34 compounds discovered by Sygnature for customers have entered pre-clinical development and, so far, 17 of these have progressed to clinical trials (Phases I, II and III). In 2017, Sygnature Discovery received the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade, and in the last year has won both the Medilink Outstanding Achievement Award and the Bionow Company of the Year Award.

For further information, visit www.sygnaturediscovery.com