This month’s news on mergers and acquisitions, hires, and other developments includes notable firms like Altasciences, Protocol First, WuXi STA, and more.
This month’s news on mergers and acquisitions, hires, and other developments includes notable firms like Altasciences, Protocol First, WuXi STA, and more.
Integrated CRO/CDMO Altasciences has completed acquisition of Sinclair Research, a preclinical CRO in the midwestern US. The move is designed to expand Altasciences’ reach by adding a midwest location to the company’s existing east and west coast locations.
Steve Mason, co-chief operating officer with Altasciences, said, “The number one reason we chose to acquire Sinclair was because of the dedicated and talented employees; Sinclair’s strong reputation for both customer care and quality are in line with Altasciences’ core value of providing services and solutions of the highest quality while striving to exceed expectations by truly giving our best to everything we do.”
Mason added the move Is expected to boost expertise in preclinical small-molecule development: “Altasciences’ preclinical small molecule expertise. Sinclair’s skill with conducting research on a range of drug classes will broaden our current preclinical offering and support Altasciences’ focus on providing our clients with customized solutions. Besides being a good fit in terms of culture, the site itself (located in Missouri) is in close proximity to our clinical site in Overland Park, Kansas.”
IACT LMC Manna Research has announced its merger with True North Clinical Research. True North, a two-site network, specializes in central nervous system (CNS) studies.
Mark Johnston, True North medical director and founder, said, “By joining forces, True North brings expertise in an area poised for key growth. We’re excited to bring our CNS expertise to existing sites, where we plan to launch Alzheimer’s Dementia trials in the new year.”
Trial financial services company Greenphire has named Alan Matuszak as chief technology. In his new role, he will lead the company’s software engineering and technical infrastructure functions, and work with the product management team to develop new solutions.
“Clinical trials are a passion of mine, especially in finding ways to help patients get treatments faster,” said Matuszak. “It’s a wonderful challenge to play such an integral role in managing Greenphire’s growth trajectory, building off of its already well-known presence in the market.”
Clinical trial tech company Tools4Patient has changed its name to Cognivia. The company provides AI- and ML-based clinical trial solutions that take in patient personality traits, beliefs, and perceptions into account.
"We remain committed to our core vision of delivering medicines to patients, while delivering value to all stakeholders in the drug development process – from investors to pharmaceutical companies to payers," said Dominique Demolle, CEO of Cognivia. "In fact, Cognivia is doing what no one else is doing – developing a quantitative understanding of patients as people and integrating these insights into analysis of clinical trial data.”
Clinical research software provider Protocol First has joined Flatiron Health as a wholly owned subsidiary.
“Flatiron has deep expertise in unstructured-data processing, experience building software that integrates seamlessly into site workflows, and an engaged network of community and academic research sites,” said Alex Deyle, general manager of clinical research at Flatiron. “Protocol First’s technology expands and accelerates our ability to drive much-needed innovation in clinical research.”
Decentralized trial tech company Thread has appointed Scott Pearson chief product officer. The former Amazon executive will help the company extend the reach of its DCT platform.
“Technology and science are converging to modernize clinical trials and provide access to more people, truly changing the future of drug development,” said Pearson. “There is no better time to join the leader in DCTs and leverage my decades of product expertise and leadership to deliver a complete platform that transforms the way research is conducted.”
Emmes, a global CRO, has acquired Institut Dr. Schauerte, a German GRO specializing in late-phase, non-interventional, and post-market clinical follow-up studies. The purchase marks Emmes’ third acquisition over the last year, after Neox and Orphan Reach.
Christine Dingivan, Emmes CEO, said, “This is another positive step in our growth and diversification strategy. Institut Dr. Schauerte has a 30-year history and deep expertise in the growing field of real-world evidence (RWE) research. Its agile, technology-enabled approach is a perfect fit with Emmes and will enhance our digital capabilities.”
Excipient specialist DFE Pharma has announced that its product application specialist Alberto Berardi has been recognized as one of the 2021 Outstanding Early Career Scientists. The honor (bestowed by the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the American Pharmacists’ Association) acknowledge early-career scientists for original and scientific findings.
“I am very proud of this recognition received by our colleague Alberto Berardi; his award is a great example of how at DFE Pharma we strive to offer, not only premium quality excipients, but also expert services and key insights to our customers,” said Bas van Driel, CEO of DFE Pharma. “Together with our portfolio, our expertise and knowledge base enables us to support (bio)pharmaceutical companies in their success towards a healthier world.”
WuXi STA has announced its its Waigaoqiao site in Shanghai, China, has passed the first drug product pre-approval inspection (PAI) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). During the five-day inspection in October, the inspector assessed the manufacturing facility equipment, laboratories, and other systems.
Minzhang Chen, CEO of WuXi STA, said of the successful inspection, “It is another milestone that the site starts to provide commercial drug product manufacturing services to the US market. With our industry-leading global CMC platform and proven quality system, we strive to empower more partners to accelerate their innovative medicines to market for patients worldwide.”
Biomanufacturing company Wheeler Bio has announced the closing of a $14m USD seed financing round. The funding reportedly will be used to expand its staff and make its Portable CMC solution more widely available.
“We are delighted to have the continued support of partners and investors as we work to solve the biggest problems associated with tech transfer,” said Jesse McCool, CEO and co-founder of Wheeler Bio. “With Portable CMC, we can empower preclinical CROs to halve the time to clinical supply for their customers, while significantly de-risking program onboarding for our CDMO partners; this means more medicines reach more patients faster.”
