Sirius history

2008

2008 started with a major challenge for Sirius, with a large fire at our UK headquarters causing significant damage to our offices and forcing us to relocate to temporary facilities for the first half of the year. Despite this major setback (which would have resulted in the closure of many companies) we fought hard to maintain our levels of service, sales and product development with minimal disruption for our customers. After 6 months in cramped temporary conditions we were able to relocate back into our newly repaired and refurbished headquarters. The year ended in great succcess with the launch of our SiriusT3 system, the culmination of many years of research work to miniaturize the components of the GLpKa system and create a new platform for the next generation of assay development from Sirius.

2007

A notable year for publications with Sirius authors, including two papers about MDM solvent, two papers about polymorphism and five posters at the AAPS Annual Meeting in San Diego.

2006

Sirius develops Vinotrate, a new instrument for a new market. Based on our titration and pH technology, Vinotrate was designed for measuring pH and titratable acidity of wine and fruit juices. Electronics and software are completely new. A strong customer base was quickly established in Southern California.

2005

Sirius Analytical Inc. opens in Piscataway, NJ. Significant advances in CheqSol research; Chasers vs non-chasers, solubility at 37°C, evidence for changes in crystalline form discovered. First CheqSol solubility paper published.

2004

Significant growth in the Analytical Service business which reflects the value of measured physicochemical properties in ADME decision-making. Sirius sponsored a successful LogP2004 meeting in Zurich, where we exhibited four posters concerning our latest research, including our new MDM cosolvent method, and work to show correlations between measured PAMPA permeability and logP dodecane-water. In April, we discovered a remarkable new way to measure intrinsic solubility of ionisable compounds by automated potentiometric titration. By September, we launched CheqSol Solubility software for RefinementPro2, as well as FastD-PAS for high throughput UV pKa measurement on GLpKa + D-PAS, generating a substantial amount of interest. After several years of collaboration, Sirius and pION Inc. decided to go their separate ways. The latter part of the year saw Sirius preparing for the launch of Sirius Analytical Inc. In preparation, we had our first independent exhibition booth at AAPS in Baltimore in November 2004.

2003

Launch of the ProfilerLDA for high throughput logD measurement.

2002

Major refurbishment of Riverside, our corporate headquarters in Forest Row, UK, to give two new laboratories, enlarged production facilities and training suite. The Fourth Users' Meeting is held in Brighton, UK.

2001

Sirius sells the first PSR4 permeability measurement system in Europe.

2000

ProfilerSGA for high throughput pKa measurement is launched at LogP2000 in Lausanne, Switzerland. Also on show at the meeting are the PCA200 and the new software suite RefinementPro made its debut. Beta-test version of our prediction software, Absolv is exhibited. Four new products launched in one year! The Third Users' Meeting is held in Lausanne, directly after LogP2000. Record attendance of over 125 delegates.

1999

First GLpKa sale to India. D-PAS add-on, for UV pKa measurement is launched: 20 sold in first 6 months.

1998

Expansion continues: new science, engineering and software staff hired. A number of joint research and development programmes underway. The Second Sirius Users' Meeting held in Paris, France.

1997

GLpKa is launched at Pittcon. Combined sales of PCA101 and GLpKa exceed 100 units. Research into spectrophotometric/pH-metric pKa measurement begins.

1996

Sirius website opened. GLpH launched. First Sirius Users' Meeting and Second Symposium held in Frankfurt, Germany. First PCA101 sale in Far East to Chungnam University, Korea. STAN Volume 2 published. Contract analysis service begins. Sirius appoint distributor in the US and Canada.

1995

Sirius wins the 'first-time exporter' category in the UK Exporter of the Year award. pKaLOGP for Windows software released. PCAcheck instrument quality-assurance scheme introduced. First Sirius symposium on Ionisation, Partitioning and Lipophilicity held in London. Sirius moves to larger premises.

1994

Sirius 'journal' STAN launched to publish the many results obtained in the Sirius lab. Research begins using PCA101 to study liposome/water partitioning. Sirius featured on the front page of Chemistry in Britain.

1993

Eight pKas measured simultaneously in one sample using PCA101. PDP (partition-derived pKa) method developed. Sirius begins to expand, employing full-time engineering and applications laboratory staff. First PCA101 Users' Training Course held.

1992

First PCA101 sale in the USA, to Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, PA. pH-metric logP paper 1 published: Difference plots for determining ion-pair octanol-water partition coefficients of multiprotic substances. Sirius moves to larger premises.

1991

World's first automated titration system dedicated to pKa and logP measurement, the PCA101, is launched by Sirius. First sale to Napp Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, UK

1990

Sirius wins UK Government's Small Firms' Merit Award for Research and Technology (SMART award).

1989

Sirius founded with the goal: to become a world-class manufacturer of innovative instrumentation for chemical analysis. Other names suggested for the company include Proton+, Quadrion, and Iontech. Work begins on development of PCA101.