Private equity-backed Bioclinica Inc. expanded its clinical research offerings with the July 2016 acquisition of Compass Research, LLC, a Florida-based clinical research site network that has direct access to a number of specialized populations with neurodegenerative disorders and other diseases found in aging demographics. The acquisition solidifies Bioclinica’s position as a leading global research network, and the only one with investigator sites in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Compass Research’s state-of-the-art facilities in Orlando have supported more than 1,300 trials and contributed to the FDA approval of more than 80 biopharmaceutical products.
Its biggest attraction, at least for Bioclinica, is its established presence in The Villages, the largest retirement community in the United States and home to 179,000 elderly residents who may contribute to research on treatments for arthritis, back, knee and hip pain, women’s health, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, as well as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The company also has a database of nearly 80,000 potential subjects amassed through a network of physicians and affiliate practices with in-clinic recruiters, as well as an in-house marketing and call center.
Bioclinica was acquired for $123 million in January 2013 by a joint venture formed by JLL Partners and Ampersand Capital Partners. Concurrent with that announcement, the JV also acquired privately held CoreLabs for an undisclosed price. CoreLabs provided medical imaging solutions and cardiac safety services, and became part of Bioclinica.
In 2014, JLL and Water Street Health Partners merged BioClinica and CCBR-SYNARC to transform the company into a leading provider of specialty outsourced clinical services. In 2015, Bioclinica added two more companies: life sciences research company Synowledge, global patient recruitment firm MediciGroup, Inc., both for undisclosed prices.
