Cypex works at the forefront of in vitro drug metabolism, specialising in the manufacture and sale of human drug-metabolising enzymes. Cypex is the only firm worldwide licensed to use patented technology, developed at the University of Dundee in conjunction with pharmaceutical companies, which allows the production of native human drug-metabolising enzymes in bacteria.
Cypex's products are used in drug development laboratories to predict the way new drugs will be broken down ('metabolised') in the human body, and the way certain drug combinations may interact when they are present in the body, before the drug is administered to humans for the first time. Use of these products can reduce drug development costs and help to made new drugs safer.The company's expertise with drug-metabolising enzymes also allows Cypex to produce drug metabolites. Some of these are available as catalogue items, and the company also performs metabolite synthesis under contract.
Cypex operates from a new purpose-built headquarters and laboratory on Dundee's Medipark. Since the release of their first Bactosome* product in early 2000, they have rapidly expanded their portfolio to over 60 products covering human drug-metabolising enzymes, fine chemicals, and a range of antibodies. Their customers include pharmaceutical, contract research, and drug development companies worldwide, as well as university research laboratories.To complement these high quality products the company has maintained close links with the University of Dundee and the industrial members of the consortium involved in the original project enabling it to continue at the leading edge of drug metabolising enzyme expression technology and offer the best in terms of service, expertise and quality. The company has also obtained the prestigious ISO9001:2000 quality accreditation.* Bactosomes are bacterial membrane fractions containing individual recombinant human drug-metabolising enzymes (mostly cytochrome P450s). They constitute one of the core ranges in Cypex's product portfolio. Bactosomes are used during drug development to investigate human drug metabolism. In most cases, they display greater activity than equivalent products from leading competitors.