US drug discovery and development service provider Crown Bioscience has opened a new research center at Kannapolis, North Carolina.

The new center, which Crown said represents a "significant US market expansion," will be split into two business units for oncology and cardiovascular and metabolic disease (CVMD).

US-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients will have enhanced access to Crown's collection of immune-oncology models, including Western patient-derived xenografts in humanized mice, murine tumor models raised in an immunocompetent environment (including syngenic cell line derived allografts), GEMM and autografts of spontaneous mouse tumors.

The models are intended to improve the selection and development path for promising clinical candidates, thus reducing drug development costs.

Crown said its Kannapolis site will also take advantage of state-of-the art immunology technologies, including flow cytometry and immunoassays, and will also be able to access "unique mouse strains" available in the US.

The facilities available in North Carolina "will greatly benefit our work in translational research across oncology and metabolic disease," said company president Jean-Pierre Wery.