Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | January 5, 2011 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Accel Synthesis, Almac, Bioanalytical Systems, Caliper Life Sciences, Cambridge Research & Instrumentation, Critical Path Services, Pharmasset, ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services, ResourcingPoint, Warburg PincusÂ
Private equity firm Warburg Pincus buys RPS for $227 million, plus updates from BASi, Almac, Caliper, and Critical Path Services/Accel Synthesis.
Private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC has agreed to acquire the clinical research organisation (CRO) ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services for $227.3 million in an all-cash transaction. The move came just as RPS filed a registration statement for an initial public offering (IPO). The CRO had 2009 revenues of $200.5 million and currently has around 2,500 employees. The transaction is expected to complete by February 2011.
Bioanalytical Systems Inc (BASi) has become US pharmaceutical company Pharmasset’s preferred supplier of preclinical services for pre- and post-Investigational New Drug (IND) activities. The agreement includes provisions to provide toxicology services as well as pharmaceutical analysis and bioanalytical support. Pharmasset is focusing on the development of antiviral drugs and has an oral treatment for hepatitis C virus infection, RG7128, in phase IIb clinical testing.
Northern Ireland pharmaceutical services provider Almac Group has started moving staff into a new $120 million, 240,000 sq.ft. facility near Philadelphia which will serve as the company’s North American headquarters. The site will house three of the group’s five US divisions and employ around 800 workers when the move is complete. “For the first time, the people and processes necessary for successful integration of clinical supplies, testing, and technology will be working together, hand-in-hand, in real time,” commented Almac chief executive Alan Armstrong.
Laboratory instrumentation and contract services firm Caliper Life Sciences has completed its $20 million acquisition of Cambridge Research & Instrumentation (CRI). In a statement Caliper said the transaction added CRI’s in vivo and tissue imaging technology to its portfolio of drug discovery, imaging and diagnostics technologies.
Two US outsourcing companies – Critical Path Services and Accel Synthesis – have joined forces to offer a combined custom synthesis and analytical service. Accel Synthesis specialises in the use of microwave technology to develop scalable synthetic pathways for compounds, while CPS is a contract research organisation focusing on analytical testing and consultancy.
Prospects for the CRO sector seem to be looking up, at least according to recruitment specialist ResourcingPoint which saw a doubling in demand for contract clinical research staff in the last two months of 2010. The uptick is attributed in part to “an increase in clinical activity across the industry”, said the company.
Phil Taylor
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