European drug discovery services firm Symeres has acquired U.S. lipid maker and organic chemistry contractor Organix.
The deal—financial terms of which were not disclosed—is designed to expand Symeres’ drug discovery business into the lipids market, helping it address demand from developers of mRNA therapeutics and vaccines.
“Organix will significantly potentiate our complex lipid business, offering synergies with our existing scale-up and GMP capabilities and medicinal chemistry platforms in Europe, as well as being our first operations footprint in the U.S.,” Symeres spokesman Russell Thomas told Fierce Biotech.
Woburn, Massachusetts-based Organix has a team of 45 people, all of whom will be joining Symeres, according to Thomas. “It’s all about the people, as is often the case,” he said.
“With the acquisition of Organix, the main assets we acquired are all staff, including the excellent management team and we will invest in expansion. Our goal is to maintain the culture and experience of Organix, which is the basis of their success,” Thomas said.
Organix generates revenue of around $10 million a year, with around 50% coming from biopharmaceutical industry and biotech customers in the U.S.
There is little duplication between the firms’ offerings according to Thomas.
“Where there is overlap in services, this offers us significantly increased capacity in areas of high demand such as lipids. Our client base is very complementary,” he said.
Netherlands-headquartered Symeres predicts integrating Organix into its business would increase revenue to around 90 million euros ($95.8 million) a year.
The Organix acquisition continues the strategy that saw Symeres—then called MercachemSyncom—acquire Finnish drug candidate toxicity testing services firm Admescope in 2020.
The Organix deal is the first since Paris-headquartered investment organization Keensight Capital acquired a majority stake in Symeres. Such deals are part of the firm’s wider growth plan.
“We have a clear strategy for organic and inorganic growth, which is fully supported by our majority shareholder Keensight. These investments will be in complementary core R&D platforms in Europe and the U.S.,” Thomas said.