A Medical Device Daily
Pelican Life Sciences (Huntersville, North Carolina) reported that it has completed the acquisition of PML Microbiologicals (Wilsonville, Oregon) and said that it has secured an additional $100 million in private equity funding for future acquisitions and development.
In December 2005, Pelican reported that it was acquiring PML ,whichit saidhas provided microbiological products to the clinical and research markets for more than 35 years.
Pelican in a statement said that the $100 million funding commitment will be used to acquire “premier companies with proven track records of providing high-quality, differentiated products to support the pharmaceutical, biotech, and academic research market.“
Pelican said it also expects to make significant investments in the acquired entities to support product development, streamline manufacturing operations and expand sales and marketing capabilities.
The $100 million in equity capital commitments was raised through Grotech Capital Group and Ferrer Freeman & Co.
“We look forward to serving the life science and scientific researcher,“ said Bill Baugh, CEO. “We believe there is a unique opportunity to bring operational excellence, personalized service and innovation to the fragmented life science supplier network.“
Pelican, which was formed in the fall of 2005 by Baugh and President Jeff Leathe, said its mission is to facilitate life science research by providing the highest quality products for discovery and detection.
Its targeted product mix includes life science reagents and specialty consumables. Other focused segments include microbiology, molecular biology and non-commodity, specialty consumables.
From 1997 to 2001, Baugh was the president of Global Laboratory Products for Fisher Scientific International (Hampton, New Hampshire). From 1990 through 2002, Leathe was the CFO of Apogent Technologies (Portsmouth, New Hampshire).
In other dealmaking activity:
• SRI International (Menlo Park, California), an independent non-profit research and development organization, reported that it has acquired Quality Clinical Labs (QCL; Mountain View, California) for an undisclosed sum.
QCL says it is the only commercial laboratory of its type in California performing clinical pathology analyses in compliance with Good Laboratory Practice regulations. Founded in 1997, QCL specializes in clinical hematology and chemistry evaluations, which are a key component of the preclinical safety studies required by the FDA in the development of new drugs.
The company serves about 50 biotechnology and pharma clients throughout the San Francisco Bay area, including SRI.
“The clinical pathology work performed by QCL is an important addition to the comprehensive preclinical services that SRI provides its clients,“ said Jon Mirsalis, PhD, managing director of SRI's biosciences division.
Christina Tang, director of QCL, will continue to lead the QCL team, which will operate under its present name and from its current location in Mountain View.
The SRI biosciences division performs basic research on disease mechanisms, like an academic institution; drug discovery and the development of biologics, like a biotechnology or pharmaceutical company; and full-service preclinical contract research and development, like a contract research organization.
• Thomson Scientific , a division of Thomson (Stamford, Connecticut) said it has acquired UK-based CMR International , a company that provides pharmaceutical R&D performance metrics.
Information provided by CMR helps its customers assess their R&D performance over time and in relation to other companies in the industry, a key metric for pharmaceutical companies, according to Thomson.
The acquisition also includes the CMR International Institute for Regulatory Science, which serves 40 pharmaceutical companies and operates as a think tank and influencing body in the pharmaceutical and biotech markets.
Thomson said CMR will enable it to provide a new level of offering to its pharmaceutical customers.
CMR will become part of the Pharma/Chemistry strategic business unit within Thomson Scientific.
Thomson is the parent company of American Health Consultants (Atlanta), publisher of Medical Device Daily and two monthly med-tech publications, Biomedical Business & Technology and Cardiovascular Device Update.