Top M&As in Clinical Research Sector
Post-pandemic, as drug development businesses recover and grow, CROs around the world continue to undergo profound transformation. As in previous years, 2023 will be all about mergers and acquisitions, with big players getting even bigger and smaller companies surviving thanks to niche advantages such as technological know-how or brilliant scientists among their employees.
Among recent reasons for mergers and the whole new approach to conducting clinical research, apart from pursuit of new clients, talents, expertise, products, and markets, there have been notorious coronavirus crisis and military conflicts worldwide. We faced the advent of globalization, decentralization, remote monitoring, and personalized approach to drugs R&D. But we are now looking into the era of technology in clinical research. Processes that allow remote audits and monitoring, previously considered too risky, are now risk mitigators (Bahls, Christine, 2021), at least from that point of view. Clinical trial participants enrollment, and even participation itself, constantly moves into tech dimension.
Only few among the leading CROs escaped M&As for now, but this seems to be the matter of time. Savlovschi – Wicks, Theodora (2022) estimated that “in 2021, the global CRO market is expected to reach an impressive US$88 billion by 2028”. According to IQVIA, only in biopharma sector the total transaction value grew by 70% to reach 152 billion USD by the end of 2023, featuring prominent $43Bn Pfizer-Seagen deal, and other considerable M&As for BMS-Karuna ($14Bn), Merck-Prometheus ($10.2Bn), AbbVie-Immunogen ($10.1Bn), AbbVie-Cerevel ($8.7Bn), Biogen-Reata ($7.3Bn) and Roche-Telavant ($7.1Bn).
Among the CRO businesses the following M&As took place lately:
- Charles River Labs acquires MPI Research (2018), Citoxlab (2019), HemaCare (2020) and Cognate BioServices (2021)
- IQVIA (formerly Quintiles and IMS Health) acquired Clintec and 40% of Q2 Solutions (2021)
- ICON purchased PRA Health Services (2021)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific bought PPD (2021)
- Labcorp purchased Covance (2014) and Chiltern (2017)
- Inotiv acquired Envigo (2021)
- INC Research and inVentiv Health merged to later become Syneos Health
- Parexel become the property of EQT Private Equity and Goldman Sachs Asset Management
- CATO SMS and Pharm-Olam merged in 2022 to form Allucent
- Triley Bidco acquired Clinigen (2022)
The article by Nataliia Vietchinkina, MS in Clinical Research Administration
University of Liverpool.
18.01.2024
