Clinical trial contractor Calyx has announced plans to buy US imaging biomarker developer Invicro.
The plan – financial details of which were not disclosed – will see UK-based Calyx acquire a 100% holding in Massachusetts-headquartered Invicro from current owner Realm IDx. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of June.
Combined, the firms will employ approximately 2,000 employees across ten laboratory sites, throughout the US, Europe and Asia.
Calyx and Invicro – which claim to provide services to most of the world’s leading pharma and biotechnology companies – have been involved in around 12,000 clinical trials.
Calyx CEO, David Herron, said: “This exciting union will create a truly differentiated industry leader and provides a clear response to growing customer requirements for broader support. Our leadership will be evident in terms of the Group’s global reach across the US, Europe and Asia, and, critically, our extensive scientific knowledge, capabilities and experience.
He pointed to the range of services the combined firm will offer as key, “This spans the complete R&D lifecycle from discovery through research and development to post-marketing, across a number of areas including imaging biomarkers, core lab services, analytics and software.”
Biomarkers
Calyx was formed in 2021 following the strategic separation of the Parexel Informatics business from US headquartered CRO Parexel International.
Since then the firm has forged partnerships with several other contractors like ClinChoice, which hired Calyx as its preferred medical imaging and eClinical solutions provider in 2022, and Protrials Research, which signed a similar deal a few weeks later.
Calyx has also been building in the biomarker space. Last April, the firm partnered with Ceretype Neuromedicine, for access to a functional MRI (fMRI) platform incorporating optimal image acquisition and analytics.
At the time it said the aim was to de-risk and accelerate the development of psychiatric and neurological therapies by creating an audit-cleared “biomarker engine.”
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