CRO Consolidation Tops $13 Billion in 2017

2017 is the year of the CRO deals. In the first four-and-a-half months of 2017, 17 deals targeting a CRO (contract research organization) have been announced, with disclosed spending of approximately $13.8 billion. Just a few weeks after Hellman & Friedman LLC took over the majority stake in Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD) for $9.05 billion in April, the CRO market witnessed another mega deal. On May 11, 2017, INC Research Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: INCR) a contract research organization providing Phase 1 to Phase 4 clinical development services, announced that it merged with privately-held inVentiv Health in an all-stock transaction valued at $4.6 billion. The combination... Read More »

PE Firms Are Big on CROs

Private equity firms are taking big stakes in contract research organizations (CROs) in 2017. Through May 3, 12 CRO deals have been announced this year, up 140% from the same period last year, when only five deals were announced (these numbers do not include contract manufacturing organization deals). In late April, The Carlyle Group was rumored to be weighing the acquisition of Albany Molecular Research Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRI), a New York-based CRO. A week later, the private equity firm announced the sale of its majority stake in Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD), a global contract research organization that provides comprehensive, integrated drug development, laboratory... Read More »

Bracket Changes Hands Again

It may not be news to digital health sector watchers that Bracket, a privately held clinical trial technology provider, was sold again. On March 28, 2017, San Francisco private equity firm Genstar Capital purchased the company for an undisclosed price. Bracket, a Pennsylvania-based clinical trial technology, has changed hands several times over the years. Bracket serves biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, as well as clinial research organizations. It leverages Bracket eCOA™, a platform for electronic clinical outcomes assessments that collects information from patients (ePRO), clinicians (eClinRO) and other observers (eObsRO). The company started off as a division of United... Read More »

Quotient Clinical Builds a U.S. CRO Presence

The clinical research (CRO) market in the United States has attracted the interest of foreign investors looking to build up their platforms overseas. Quotient Clinical, a privately-held CRO based in Edinburgh, Scotland, acquired two U.S.-based CROs in February 2017, in an effort to bring its innovative Translational Pharmaceutics ® platform to America. But this CRO had to change a few hands over the past few years before it could reach acquirer status. In December 2013, the U.K.-based Quotient Bioresearch Group sold Quotient Clinical to London-based Bridgepoint Development Capital, marking Bridgepoint’s entry into a growing CRO market. Just two years later, in December 2015,... Read More »

CRO Deals Are Hot and About to Get Hotter

The need for outsourced research and development services has caused a huge increase in the number of deals for contract research organizations (CROs) and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs).  In 2016, 36 acquisitions of CROs and CMOs were announced in 2016, a 157% increase from 2015’s total of 14 deals, according to data reported in the Health Care Services Acquisition Report, 2017. That pace is picking up. In the first six weeks of 2017, six CRO/CMO deals have been announced,with even more to come. Last week, Reuters reported that Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (NYSE: LH) is in talks to buy Pharmaceutical Product Development LLC (PPD), a portfolio company of Hellman &... Read More »