The transaction was structured as a merger, with Bio-Kinetic shareholders receiving membership interests in QPS Holdings. Financial terms were not disclosed. Private equity firms Argentum Capital Partners and First Analysis Corp, which led the recapitalisation of Bio-Kinetic in 2005, will become shareholders in QPS, along with Bio-Kinetic’
The acquisition brings together two companies founded by entrepreneurs. QPS was set up by Dr Ben Chien in 1995; Bio-Kinetic was founded by Dale Bourg and Dave Koenigsfeld in 1994.
QPS offers services in discovery, preclinical and clinical drug development, specialising in bioanalysis, ADME, QWBA, molecular biology and biomarker/immunoassay testing. It has bioanalysis and preclinical drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic facilities at its Newark headquarters and a laboratory in Taipei, Taiwan. The company has regional business development offices in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Together, the CROs will offer bioanalysis, preclinical DMPK, biomarker, gene expression, pharmacogenomics marker and Phase I studies. A clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) group is being formed in Newark to handle Phase I clinical pharmacology and PK/PD studies in healthy volunteers, and population PK/PD analysis as well as PK/PD modelling.
The official launch of the combined company will take place at the 2008 American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, on April 2nd-5th. Article submitted by www.jobs4dd.com, a specialist online recruitment service for the clinical trial and drug development sectors.
