>>TORONTO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - MDS Inc. (Toronto:MDS.TO - news) (NYSE:MDZ - news) said its health services division teamed up with a pharmaceutical company on Wednesday to develop a system that could lead to the quicker development of more effective and safer drugs.
Shares of the health and life sciences company rose 55 Canadian cents, or 3 percent, to C$19.95 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In New York, the shares were up 39 cents, or 3 percent, at $12.70.
MDS Pharma Services will forge an alliance with U.S.-based Iconix Pharmaceuticals to develop its drug data analysis system, DrugMatrix, which MDS says let scientists predict safe and marketable therapies before pre-clinical studies and human clinical trials are initiated.
``Integrated with the data from our pharmacology profiling team, DrugMatrix will provide drug developers a powerful information and analytical system that should accelerate target prioritization, optimization, and predictive clinical assessment,'' said Doug Squires, chief executive of MDS Pharma Services.
In a morning note, Dimi Ntantoulis, an analyst with National Bank Financial, maintained a ``buy'' recommendation and a target price of C$23.50 for MDS.
The company is expected to release fourth-quarter results on Thursday before the markets open.
National Bank estimates revenue for the quarter to be C$422.6 million, up 4.6 percent from C$403.8 million in the corresponding period a year earlier.<<
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Cheers, Tuck |
