TORONTO, June 11 - Panvera is looking to expand to Europe, a company official told GenomeWeb today.
President Mike Wokasch said Panvera hopes to have at least two people on the ground in Europe, possibly the UK, within a year to help the company sell its protein drug targets and its drug-screening essays, and also to provide tech support.
"Europe represents a significant growth opportunity for us," said Wokasch, who was tapped in March to run Vertex's other unit, Aurora Biosciences. He made his comments during lunch with a GenomeWeb reporter in between sessions at the BIO 2002 conference here, which ends tomorrow.
He said Madison, Wisc.-based Panvera is "debating" whether to hire locally or to plant a current US-based staffer.
Aurora, a San Diego-based biotech concern, acquired Panvera in March 2001. One month later Vertex gobbled up Aurora.