Benchling Acquires Overwatch Research For In Vivo Studies

Leveraging some of the $300 million earned through two venture capital rounds in 2021, major life sciences research and development company Benchling has picked up Northern Ireland-based Overwatch Research, a five-year-old software startup.

The startup’s impressive software, which aims to mitigate scientist errors in preclinical development drug research, has led to several multi-million-pound export deals of late. Notable clients include Blueprint Medicines and The Institute of Cancer Research in London

“Our software tackles core challenges contributing to the preclinical reproducibility crisis,” Overwatch Research Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Dr. Chris Armstrong said. “This helps biopharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CROs) reduce errors, increase confidence for first-in-human studies, and ultimately get drugs to patients faster.”

The added in vivo-study capabilities for Benchling will bolster its R&D Cloud for biotech and speed the product-to-clinic timeline for customers. Benchling also hopes to enlarge its presence in European markets.

Scientists tend to use manual processes such as notekeeping and spreadsheet calculation when recording and analyzing data from experiments. These methods cost research clinics an extra $10 to $50 billion dollars annually because the work cannot be replicated. Benchling and Overwatch are attempting to do away with paper research notebooks as well as manually operated computer spreadsheets.