Canadian CRO Cirion Biopharma has been acquired by Cerba HealthCare in a deal that expands the French clinical trial lab and diagnostics provider’s offerings and geographic reach.
With the deal, Cerba gains Cirion’s bioanalytical capabilities in biosimilars and biologics development, including pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PKPD) and immunogenicity testing, experience in managing international multicenter clinical studies and specimen management support for complex development projects, the companies said in a Sept. 7 press release.
Cirion, which has more than 80 employees, also provides R&D services ranging from preclinical drug discovery through to phase IV trial drug development. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
“I see Cirion as a true strategic step in improving our offering both geographically and scientifically,” Cerba Research CEO Mario Papillon said in the release. “It deepens our North American presence while featuring sound expertise in PKPD assay development and testing, which is instrumental knowledge for our customers as it relates drug concentration to drug effect.”
Under terms of the deal, Cirion will become part of Cerba Research, a unit of Cerba HealthCare. The acquisition is just the latest in a string of M&A in the CRO space in recent weeks. This has included London-based private equity firm Permira shelling out 703 million pounds sterling ($886 million) to take U.K.-based CRO Ergomed private as well as Singapore-based Harvest Integrated Research Organization acquiring Minnesota-based CRO oncology specialist Courante Oncology.