Consolidation

Charles River talks up unity, ‘no comments’ takeover reports

12-Jan-2012 - Charles River’s CEO has reiterated the importance of integrating its research models and preclinical units but refused to discuss takeover reports.

CRO consolidation to slow in 2012, Icon CEO says

11-Jan-2012 - Major CRO consolidation will slow down in 2012 after the big wave of deals last year, the CEO of Icon said.

Charles River considering sale, media report claims

10-Jan-2012 - Charles River is reportedly considering selling the business, with private equity and rival companies believed to be possible buyers.

Toray takes stake in Japanese CMO to boost life sciences biz

09-Jan-2012 - Toray Industries has acquired a stake in a Japanese CMO and ingredient supplier as part of its push into life sciences.

ValiRx expands into services with biomarker business buy

05-Jan-2012 - UK-based biotech ValiRx has acquired a biomarkers business from Finnish preclinical CRO Pharmatest Services.

Charles River hunts for deals to serve strategic discovery clients

15-Dec-2011 - Charles River wants to buy drug discovery assets to meet interest in strategic outsourcing of non-regulated efficacy testing.

News in brief

Schulman Associates buys Florida IRB

06-Dec-2011 - Cincinnati, US-based Schulman Associates Institutional Review Board (IRB) has bought Florida counterpart Independent Investigational Review Board (IIR) to broaden its offering for Pharmas and CROs.

UBC looking to ‘buy or build’ to serve strategic partnerships

29-Nov-2011 - UBC expects strategic outsourcing of outcomes and personalised medicine research to accelerate as biopharm cut fixed costs.

Forming CRO spin-outs can help big pharma; research

24-Nov-2011 - Spinning-out assets to form a CRO can help large biopharm commercialise knowledge and focus on core activities, research found.

SeraCare posts Q4 loss after bioservice revenue halves

21-Nov-2011 - SeraCare slipped into the red in the fourth quarter as loss of government business halved bioservice revenues.

UCB inks deal with Parexel & PRA to boost cost-effectiveness

16-Nov-2011 - UCB has inked a strategic deal with Parexel and PRA that an analyst believes has “very favourable” terms for the biopharm.

Patheon mulls drug delivery tech deals to accelerate development services growth

14-Nov-2011 - Patheon is considering buying unique drug delivery technologies to expand its development service capabilities.

PDI operating profit falls as DCA buy drags on performance

10-Nov-2011 - Operating profit at PDI fell 90 per cent in the third quarter after the acquired digital communications unit again dragged on performance.

Catalent eyes acquisitions in emerging market and drug delivery expansion

07-Nov-2011 - Catalent is considering acquisitions as it adds scale, drug delivery technologies and capacity in emerging markets.

Effective outsourcers will have competitive edge in 2020; KPMG

26-Oct-2011 - Effectively outsourcing a significant portion of work will give biopharm a competitive advantage in 2020, KPMG said.

Quintiles makes acquisitions in observational research and market access space

20-Oct-2011 - Quintiles has bought its way into the observational research space with the acquisition of Outcome Sciences and strengthened its market access standing with the purchase of VCG & Associates.

JSS & Venn partner to offer transatlantic clinical services

19-Oct-2011 - JSS Medical Research has bought Canadian assets from Venn Life Sciences as part of a joint-venture spanning North America and Europe.

Encorium seeks partner or PE buyer after loss of biz

10-Oct-2011 - Encorium is seeking a CRO partner or private equity buyer after the strategic outsourcing trend hit its revenues and cash reserves.

Akorn to enter India in five facility takeover deal

06-Oct-2011 - Akorn is to expand its CMO business into India and add sterile injectables capabilities by acquiring five manufacturing plants.

AmerisourceBergen to buy reimbursement services firm TheraCom for $250m

05-Oct-2011 - AmerisourceBergen will buy patient access and reimbursement support services firm TheraCom, continuing its recent run of acquisitions.

PPD accepts $3.9bn offer

04-Oct-2011 - PPD has agreed to be acquired by two private equity firms for $3.9bn (€3.0bn) in cash.

CEO hire signals private equity unlikely to buy PPD; analyst

20-Sep-2011 - PPD has named a new CEO and is now unlikely to be taken over by private equity because the deal environment has worsened, an equity analyst said.

Patheon plans facility exits & capability cuts to improve biz

13-Sep-2011 - Patheon is exiting semi-solids, clinical packaging and cutting facilities in response to ‘poor historical performance’.

inVentiv plans Asian expansion

31-Aug-2011 - inVentiv Health is looking to expand operations in Japan, China and India after completing takeovers of i3 and PharmaNet.

Over 50% of sales at top CROs now made outside US; report

29-Aug-2011 - Big public CROs now generate more than half their collective revenue outside the US after triple-digit growth in recent years, a report found.