Accelrys was formed in 2001 as a wholly owned subsidiary of
Pharmacopeia, Inc. from the fusion of five companies: Molecular Simulations Inc., Synopsys Scientific Systems, Oxford Molecular, the Genetics Computer Group (GCG), and Synomics Ltd. MSI, itself a result of the combination of Biodesign, Cambridge Molecular Design, Polygen and, later, Biocad and Biosym Technologies. In late 2003, Pharmacopeia, Inc. separated its drug discovery and software development businesses. The drug discovery company retained the name Pharmacopeia and remained in
Princeton, New Jersey, while the software company moved to
San Diego, California. In 2004, Accelrys acquired
SciTegic, producer of the
Pipeline pilot software. Accelrys managed a
nanotechnology consortium producing software tools for rational nanodesign from 2004 to 2010. In 2010,
Symyx Technologies was merged with Accelrys. In May 2011, the company acquired Contur Software AB, an electronic lab notebook software firm. In January 2012, Accelrys acquired VelQuest, a maker of pharmaceutical and medical device-related software, for $35 million in cash. In May 2012, Accelrys purchased Hit Explorer Operating System (HEOS) - a SaaS system that provides groups with project information in the cloud and access to biological assay results, analytics, chemical registration and pharmacokinetics data - from Scynexis. In October 2012, Accelrys acquired Aegis Analytical Corp. for $30 million in cash, expanding Accelrys’ reach for customers in the move from the lab to the manufacturing floor. The company's Discoverant software aggregates and analyzes manufacturing, quality and development data to allow manufacturers for quality by design. In January 2013, Accelrys acquired Swiss biosciences systems integrator Vialis AG for $5 million in cash. On January 30, 2014
Dassault Systèmes of France announced the acquisition of Accelrys in an all-cash tender offer for at $12.50 per share, representing a fully diluted equity value for Accelrys of approximately $750 million. After the acquisition, Accelrys was renamed BIOVIA. == Products ==