California-based Cadence Design Systems Inc recently announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire OpenEye Scientific Software Inc, a provider of computational molecular modelling and simulation software based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the software is primarily used by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for drug research and discovery. “@Cadence entered into a definitive agreement to acquire @OpenEyeSoftware, a leading provider of computational molecular modelling and simulation software being widely and increasingly used by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for drug discovery,” they tweeted.
“Drug discovery is an increasingly complex process that requires significant investment in research and development,” said Dr Anirudh Devgan, president and CEO of Cadence. “The pending acquisition of OpenEye, with its scientifically tested methodologies and expertise, accelerates Cadence’s Intelligent System Design strategy with our entry into a new system domain of life sciences. Cadence’s deep computational software expertise drives further innovation in algorithms that enhance the reliability, efficiency and speed of molecular simulations. We look forward to welcoming such an accomplished team and are delighted to accelerate innovation and improve research and development productivity in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.”
“We founded OpenEye to stretch the boundaries of what’s possible in computational drug discovery,” said Dr Anthony Nicholls, CEO of OpenEye Scientific. “Our 3D search technology, programming toolkits, and more recently, our cloud platform, Orion, have led the industry for more than 25 years, and this opportunity to join with Cadence to pursue even greater scale and accuracy is simply amazing. We foresee a time when pharmaceutical design, no matter the modality, is predominantly computational. The realisation of that goal with our skills and Cadence’s resources and expertise is going to have a profound impact on human health.”
According to the definitive agreement between the two companies, Cadence will shell out around $500 million. The acquisition is predicted to contribute immaterial revenue this year and about $40 million in FY of 2023.
