Emas Pharma, a CRO that provides biopharma and medical device services, has been bought by outsourced specialist Bionical and joined the latter’s existing clinical services business.
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Hitchin, U.K., Emas offers a myriad of services from drug safety, clinical trials, to strategic planning for product development and regulatory support, with footprints in about all key regions worldwide and operations spreading in all continents. That global presence is exactly what Bionical is after.
Bionical's clinical division, which Emas will be joining force with, currently provides the supply of products for clinical trials as well as nurse educator teams, among other public health services. Besides that, Bionical also has a commercial chapter that offers business and commercialization support, and a communications team focused on breakthrough digital approaches in communications between sales reps and healthcare providers.
Detailed financials of the deal was not disclosed, but it’s clear that Emas will continue to operate as a separate business, and current CEO Peter Kennerley will stay on as its head. Both Kennerley and Bionical’s CEO Graham Mclntosh said the M&A is “a perfect synergy” and their services are highly complementary to each other’s.
This is Bionical’s third strategic acquisition in just over a year. In July 2015, it purchased U.S.-based patient education firm McCallan Health, followed by its acquisition in September 2015 of also U.K.-based North 51, a three-division healthcare company that delivers recruitment and contract sales solutions, and creates digital and software products for the healthcare and biopharma industry.