Accelerating early-stage drug discovery by connecting multidisciplinary teams 

Based in France, Novalix is a premier contract research organisation, dedicated to improving the critical early stages of drug discovery, combining exceptional scientific talent and exclusive technology with a comprehensive portfolio of world-class chemistry, biophysics and pharmacology capabilities. 

They have streamlined data management and analysis across their multi-site, multi-disciplinary operations by integrating CDD Vault and StarDrop platforms to create a unified workflow. 

Key successes following this integration include reduced data retrieval times and real-time access to the latest data and insights across all departments, enabling faster decision-making and improved client service delivery. 

Read the full interview and case study with Novalix, or read our summary below. 

The story of Novalix 

Since starting in 2002 as a chemistry and structural biology-focused organisation, Novalix has undergone significant expansion, driven by strategic acquisitions of sites and personnel from major pharmaceutical companies.  

Today, Novalix’s offering spans four core pillars: chemistry, biophysics, pharmacology and DMPK, and drug discovery, employing approximately 400 employees across four sites. The company helps organisations accelerate time to clinic by providing everything from individual service components to complete integrated discovery programmes. 

The company prides itself on providing strategic guidance in addition to efficient and high-quality service. This relies on being able to quickly access, analyse, and interpret data from across each department. 

The challenge of multi-site data integration 

Without an integrated solution for data management, experimental data would be stored in separate local Excel files. Collaboration between departments meant time spent on manual searches, data formatting, email exchange, and manual export/import.  

This approach meant team members could spend hours or even days per project on administrative tasks, taking time away from research and analysis. For a CRO where time directly impacts both client satisfaction and commercial success, establishing efficient workflows is key. 

Why Novalix chose StarDrop
and CDD Vault 

The defining features that led to their adoption included: 

For StarDrop: 

  • Integration of 2D and 3D modelling and visualisation 

For CDD Vault: 

  • Ability to integrate experimental data from multiple sites and departments 
  • Centralised access to real-time data, across diverse types and formats 
  • User access permission controls for confidentiality management 

Importantly, the API integration between StarDrop and CDD Vault addressed a core requirement: the ability to access the latest data for analysis without manual intervention. 

The new data management workflow 

Implementation was managed internally by Novalix’s IT team, including the API integration between StarDrop and CDD Vault to create a streamlined workflow. The intuitive nature of both platforms allowed for smooth user adoption, with teams becoming proficient within just 2-3 sessions. 

The typical process now involves: 

  1. Experimental data from all sites is integrated into CDD Vault, which can be accessed by relevant discovery teams and clients 
  1. Data is accessed directly within StarDrop for clustering, 3D structure visualisation, and predictive QSAR modelling 
  1. Analyses can be saved and shared to guide further compound design and optimisation 

Key workflow improvements: 

  • Direct data transfer eliminates the need for email requests and manual data export/import 
  • All relevant departments have real-time access to the latest information 
  • Integration with laboratory notebooks allows chemists to input data directly 
  • Automatic handling of new data additions removes the need to manually match datasets and remove duplicates 

The results 

Time savings: Centralised data access and sharing saves hours or even days per project, by eliminating manual admin tasks. This frees researcher time that can now be spent on project work, which translates to faster delivery for clients. 

Informed decision-making: Real-time access to the latest results across departments enables faster, data-driven decision-making. Enhanced data transparency provides teams with greater confidence in their analyses. 

Enhanced data analysis: StarDrop’s 3D visualisation, QSAR modelling and data analysis tools provide deeper insights into structure-activity relationships. In combination with CDD Vault, this enables effective compound prioritisation based on comprehensive, up-to-date datasets.  

“Organising and deriving contextualised results from diverse data would be a huge challenge without CDD Vault and StarDrop.

As an organisation with multiple sites that each generate their own data, it’s really important that we can collate that data systematically and efficiently, and make it user-friendly to find and search.

Thanks to StarDrop and CDD Vault, all the data from the pharmacology department, from ADME, DMPK, and cheminformatics, can be accessed in one place, representing a major time saving.“

–– Ruel Cedeno, PhD, Novalix Head of Cheminformatics

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