Saffron Walden, UK; 10 December 2009 – BioFocus, a leading provider of gene-to-drug candidate discovery services, today announced that Dr. Doris Hafenbradl has joined BioFocus as Senior Director, Biology and Natural Products, based in Basel, Switzerland. Doris joins BioFocus from Proteros Biostructures where, as Executive VP, she was responsible for the strategic business and scientific development of the screening and proteins business unit. Prior to this Doris held senior positions within GPC Biotech (formerly Axxima Pharmaceuticals AG) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. Doris holds an MS and PhD in Microbiology from the University of Regensburg, Germany.

“With Doris’s strategic leadership experience in drug discovery, we will be able to strengthen and grow our biology and natural product operation,” commented Dr. Kate Hilyard, VP Biological Sciences, BioFocus. “This hire reflects our ongoing commitment to accelerate our clients’ discovery programs through investing in the right people”.

For further information, please visit www.biofocus.com.

About BioFocus
BioFocus aims to expand its partners’ drug pipelines by accelerating the gene-to-drug candidate discovery process. This is achieved through a comprehensive discovery platform, which includes target discovery in human primary cells, focused as well as diverse compound libraries, in vitro and cell-based screening, structural biology, medicinal chemistry, ADME/PK services, supported by unique chemogenomic and informatics tools, and compound library acquisition, storage and distribution services. As the service division of Galapagos, BioFocus has over 250 employees in four countries worldwide.