AmerisourceBergen inks €1.3bn PharmaLex buyout to grow biopharma service business

By Nick Taylor

- Last updated on GMT

AmerisourceBergen inks €1.3bn PharmaLex buyout to grow biopharma service business

Related tags M&A

AmerisourceBergen has followed through on plans to grow its biopharma services business by striking a €1.28bn ($1.28bn) deal to acquire PharmaLex.

Frankfurt, Germany-based PharmaLex provides a range of specialized services, spanning from preclinical scientific advice and toxicology studies to postapproval market access and pharmacovigilance support, to  biopharma and medtech companies. The company says it leads more than 40 meetings with European, Japanese and US regulatory agencies each year and lists nine of the top 10 pharma companies as clients. 

AmerisourceBergen has identified the capabilities as complementary to its existing European presence in pharmaceutical distribution and biopharma manufacturer services capabilities, leading it to agree to a takeover that is expected to close by March 2023.

The deal, which is tipped to add $0.15 to adjusted diluted earnings per share over the final seven months of next year, furthers the biopharma service expansion agenda that AmerisourceBergen set out at its investor day earlier this year.

At the event, the company identified biopharma services as a $100bn market, with a compound annual growth rate of 5% to 10%, that it is well positioned to target based on its existing links to downstream clinical customers and upstream manufacturers. AmerisourceBergen sees particular opportunities to add business with the small and mid-sized biopharma companies that are now critical to innovation.

Many of those customers would like to buy multiple services at the same time​,” said Robert Mauch, executive vice president and group president of AmerisourceBergen. “They are more willing than the largest of the manufacturers to buy a portfolio of services from one service provider that will help them bring products to market, we believe in multiple markets. The global footprint will really matter​.”

Mauch went on to argue that the reputation AmerisourceBergen has in the US, coupled to the footprint it has built up in Western Europe, gives the company an opportunity to add innovative services, whether by building, buying or partnering.

Related topics Preclinical Research

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