CASE STUDIES

• Key Organics
• Research Instruments Ltd
• Tripos Receptor Research
• West Pharmaceutical Services

REPORTS

• The New Entrepeneurs

Medical and health

"We're pleased with the high-calibre of scientific personnel that the area can attract."
Dr Peter Hecht, Senior Vice President

In 2002, US-based bio-informatics company Tripos Inc. announced its decision to invest £16 million into a new R&D facility at Bude. The company had good reasons for choosing north Cornwall over the other areas of Europe that had made it to its short-list.

In 1997 it had acquired a local company, Receptor Research Ltd, on the basis of its outstanding R&D record and shared vision of future development. And the renamed Tripos Receptor Research more than lived up to expectations: in 2000, it won a prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise for its contribution to pharmaceutical exports.

Tripos Receptor Research uses software-based informatics systems to create "virtual libraries" of chemical compounds, dramatically increasing the speed and efficiency of the drug discovery process.

Its new, state-of-the-art facility at Bude places Tripos in an exceptionally strong position to meet the demanding requirements of the world's leading pharmaceuticals companies. And it represents a huge vote of confidence in Cornwall's future as a world-class centre of scientific excellence.