Asterand, the Cambridge company specialising in human tissue for drug discovery and development has extended its collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb for access to Asterand's products and services for up to three years.

The agreement will focus on access to Asterand's PhaseZERO drug discovery services and Asterand's XpressBANK of human tissue and clinical samples for the continued validation of early drug targets and support for compound optimisation.  

Asterand CEO Martyn Coombs said: "This decision by Bristol-Myers Squibb is an important validation of Asterand's products and services. Asterand provides human based solutions that improve decision making during the development of medicines."