ST LOUIS – Tripos, a leading provider of molecular modeling and informatics software to improve productivity and decision-making in drug discovery, announced today that the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research in Temple University’s School of Pharmacy has licensed its entire computer-aided drug design (CADD) and informatics software portfolio to accelerate the drug discovery process.

The Moulder Center has a unique, fully integrated drug discovery lab that is used for both internal research and collaborations with pharma and biotech companies. Tripos’ molecular modeling software portfolio will be utilized for target identification, lead identification and lead optimization.

The Moulder Center is led by Dr. Magid Abou-Gharbia, who previously worked as the Senior Vice President and Head of Chemical Screening Services at Wyeth for 26 years. At Wyeth, he led over 500 global researchers and was responsible for the discovery of five marketed drugs in oncology, CNS and anti-infective’s.

“More and more pharmaceutical and biotech companies are turning to collaborative partnerships to improve efficiency and enrich their pipelines,” said Dr. Abou-Gharbia. “The Moulder Center has set up a state-of-the-art laboratory to support such partnerships, and SYBYL®-X, Muse®, Benchware®3D Explorer and D360 will provide the molecular modeling and informatics backbone for compound design, model development, analysis and visualization. We believe that the combination of pharmaceutical talent, instrumentation and software we now have creates one of the top centers on the East Coast for integrated drug research, spanning from early drug discovery to pre-clinical development.”

“Tripos is pleased to be a trusted partner for these collaborative efforts led by the Moulder Center,” said James Hayden, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Tripos. “Dr. Abou-Gharbia has achieved the very rare feat of leading drug discovery efforts for five compounds that received FDA approval. We are looking forward to being part of such a strong center and contributing through the use of advanced computer-aided drug design (CADD) and informatics software tools.”

About Tripos

Tripos, a Certara Company, is a global leader in innovative scientific software products and services enabling life science researchers to improve the efficiency of molecular discovery. Established in 1979, Tripos helps a broad range of companies and research facilities accelerate the identification and optimization of new compounds that have the potential to become marketed drugs, foods, flavorings and fragrances.

About Certara

Certara unites Tripos and Pharsight Corporation, and is dedicated to improving human health through a broad spectrum of software products and services, from molecular discovery through clinical research, with special focus on supporting translational approaches to drug development. Pharsight provides software and scientific services to improve productivity and decision-making in clinical drug development.

About the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research

The Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research was established in Temple University’s School of Pharmacy in 2008. The Center is located in Philadelphia, Pa., a region that has historically been the home to so many of the pharmaceutical companies that it has become the heart of pharma or biomedical research, and has earned the moniker, “Silicon Valley of biomedical research and drug discovery.” Led by its director, Dr. Magid Abou-Gharbia, the Moulder Center is a fully integrated drug discovery facility, involved in multi-disciplinary research and featuring state-of-the-art medicinal chemistry and screening laboratories, a 20,000-compound library that allows for drug screening and optimization, as well as computer-aided drug design or CADD to do virtual drug screening. The center’s research capabilities are enhanced through its numerous internal and external collaborations and partnerships.