Caprion and HistoGeneX form joint company offering new services, greater global reach

Caprion, a specialty contract research organization (CRO), will be joined by HistoGeneX, a company focused on providing biomarker technologies for clinical research. The company will continue to be managed by both organizations' leadership teams, which will hold stakes in the newly formed company. Further details have not been disclosed. 

Through a full suite of immune monitoring and biomarker development services, global biopharmaceutical organizations will be able to tap the joint company for preclinical through late stage clinical trials services and companion diagnostics.

Martin Leblanc, co-founder of Caprion Biosciences, told us that customers of both companies “should expect business as usual with the companies continuing to provide current solutions to customers.”​

He added that in the coming months the combined organization will expand current offerings and introduce additional solutions “to meet the challenges posed by the continuing evolution of the immunotherapy landscape.” ​

Offerings provided by the combined company include multiparametric flow cytometry for immune system response monitoring, quantitative mass spectrometry for large-scale proteomic profiling and targeted quantitative bioanalytical assays​, single and multiplexed immunohistochemistry assays, and molecular pathology.

Leblanc also stated that the combination of the two companies will accelerate the growth of both businesses by bringing customers “the full scope of scientific techniques, scale, and geographic presence for global studies.” ​

Caprion is headquartered in Canada, and HistoGeneX has locations in Belgium and the US, giving the joint company footing in both Europe and North America.

According to Mark Kockx, co-founder of HistoGeneX, enabling customers to analyze biomarkers can enable companies to predict the response of a therapy.

“Equally important is to find solutions for individual cancer patients by understanding the complex relationship between the pharma companies and the payors when new predictive biomarkers are found. The latter will be possible by working together with the advisory board team of Arsenal Capital,”​ Kockx added.

Arsenal Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in health care, led and facilitated the new formation of the company with an investment of which terms were not disclosed.