News

Ampersand Capital has acquired Seattle-based Pacific Biomarkers, a provider of specialty biomarker development and central laboratory testing services for the pharmaceutical and biotech markets. No financial terms were disclosed. Ampersand will merge Pacific Biomarkers with portfolio company NEOMED-LABS.

PRESS RELEASE

WELLESLEY, MA, LAVAL, QC and SEATTLE, Nov. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ – Ampersand Capital Partners announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Pacific Biomarkers and merged it with existing portfolio company NEOMED-LABS. This merger brings together two leading bioanalytical CROs with unrivaled credentials in immunology and particular expertise in assay development, custom biomarker validation, and high-throughput clinical sample testing.

Based in Seattle and founded in 1989, Pacific Biomarkers provides specialty biomarker development and central laboratory testing services for the pharmaceutical and biotech markets. The company is a full-service bioanalytical laboratory, capable of supporting pharma sponsors with efficacy and drug safety related testing from preclinical through Phase IV clinical studies.

“The merger of NEOMED-LABS and Pacific Biomarkers creates an expanded business with a broad set of capabilities, allowing the combined entity to better serve its customers,” said Benoit Bouche, President and Chief Executive Officer of NEOMED-LABS, who will serve as CEO of the combined entity. “We are excited to bring two world-class laboratories together and build a center of excellence for clinical immunology and specialty biomarker testing services.”

Amar Sethi, current President and CSO of Pacific Biomarkers who will serve as President and Chief Medical Officer of the combined business added: “I am very pleased with the closing of this strategic transaction. Pacific Biomarkers has been providing industry-leading testing services to customers for nearly 30 years and this merger positions us to further accelerate our growth as part of a larger business with more resources. I am highly confident that this combined business will be well positioned to serve a global base of customers.”

“Ampersand’s goal with our original investment in NEOMED-LABS earlier this year was to build a world class leader in clinical immunology lab services, and this merger furthers that goal,” stated Eric Lev, Partner at Ampersand. “Ampersand looks forward to working with the management team in the next phase of growth for the combined company to provide industry-leading clinical laboratory testing services for the pharma, IVD, and biotech markets.”

ABOUT NEOMED-LABS
NEOMED-LABS is a leading, independent, pure player in the immunology field whose team of experts and state of the art BSL2 labs were instrumental in the development, qualification, and validation of more than 30 assays supporting the FDA filing of 10 marketed vaccines whose cumulative sales is around $3bn. Our unrivaled expertise in immunotools engineering and stability testing, as well as our capacity of 200k results per year on our immunochemistry, virology, and bacteriology automated platforms are devoted to personalized services and fast track method validation.

For more information, please visit: www.neomedlabs.com

ABOUT PACIFIC BIOMARKERS
Pacific Biomarkers is a biomarker testing services provider, supporting pharmaceutical, biotech and in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) manufacturing companies through preclinical and Phase I-IV studies of drug and IVD development. Pacific Biomarkers is a CAP accredited and CLIA certified laboratory. Pacific Biomarkers also provides Bioanalytical GLP and GCLP compliant biomarker laboratory services. Pacific Biomarkers has an established reputation for expertise, flexibility, protocol consultation, and outstanding client services that has propelled the company to a prominent position in the rapidly growing pharmaceutical outsourcing industry. With over 300 fully CLIA validated assays and an extensive network of scientific, regulatory, and technology expertise, Pacific Biomarkers is the service provider of choice for many leading international drug manufacturers in the race to bring products to market as quickly and cost effectively as possible.

For more information, please visit: www.pacbio.com

ABOUT AMPERSAND CAPITAL PARTNERS
Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a middle market private equity firm dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston and Amsterdam, Ampersand leverages its unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive superior long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Ampersand has helped build numerous market-leading companies across each of our core healthcare sectors, including Brammer Bio, Confluent Medical, Genewiz, Genoptix, Talecris Biotherapeutics, and Viracor-IBT Laboratories.

For more information, please visit: www.ampersandcapital.com