St. Louis, MO 2/24/12; Sheffield, UK 2/24/12; Sheffield, UK 2/24/12—Certara, a provider of drug discovery and development software and scientific consulting services, has acquired Simcyp for $32 million. Based in the UK, Simcyp supplies a modeling and simulation platform for predicting the fate of drugs in virtual populations. For its fiscal year ending July 2011, Simcyp’s post-tax profit was £1.9 million ($3.0 million = £0.64 = $1), according to Fusion IP, which owned a 20% share of Simcyp. “From a translational science perspective, Simcyp’s preclinical simulation technologies, which include prediction of drug-drug interactions, fit perfectly between Certara’s existing discovery and clinical research offerings, thus enabling an end-to-end solution,” stated Certara President and CEO Jim Hopkins. “For example, this means broader capabilities to predict drug disposition as a function of molecular structure, and the ability to utilize a single unified suite of tools to facilitate preclinical and clinical PBPK [physiologically based pharmacokinetic] and PKPD [pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic] modeling and analysis.” Operating as a Certara business unit, Simcyp will maintain its Consortium business model and focus on population-based PBPK/PD modeling and simulation services and software for the pharmaceutical industry. The transaction is expected to be completed on February 29.